The W
by KittyOfStars
Summary: In a town where everyone's a were-something or werewolf friendly, when the Hale boys are practically handed a teenage girl a whole load of trouble is about to ensure. Who is she and what is her story? Heads up, kids; enemies becoming allies is the new trend in Beacon Hills. But then again..we're never short on enemies. (Genres may change)
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there, remember me? The one who vanished into thin air? **—**Well, I've decided to rewrite this story and continue it.**

**I must say I'm freakishly pissed that the Hales left Teen Wolf so..yeah. Also, naturally this story is AU and set after season 4. And even that is slightly AU, but whatever part of the season is different you will find explained in the story, I'm not leaving you hanging there and making wild guesses.**

**So, you know how it goes; Read &amp; Review, ask me anything you want and of course enjoy!**

* * *

She rested a hand on the metal banister of the balcony outside her motel room; the silver of her rings clicking against the magma of metallic whatever as she unconsciously moved them to some rhythm she had never been able to place. She had to admire the work that was done with the place —a few months back there was nothing on that spot, just a vast empty space and then...

Then there was the construction site a few miles away.

She had watched the ruins of the old, burnt down, Hale house being removed a week after she arrived to town and even though she had never seen the house in its former glory it pained her to watch what was left of it being taken away. She could bet her right arm that, even in ruins, it was homier than some places she had stayed at —places with concrete walls and no holes on the roof or between floors. That alone had to count for something.

She wasn't some tragic heroine who needed to be coddled and protected at all costs; she had enough self respect —or maybe it was pride— to not view herself as one and she refused to let others treat her as such. She could take care of herself, she'd done it for a long time and though she sometimes needed help, she didn't need people bending backwards to save or pity her. So she kept her head held high, her war-paint on at all times, her mouth shut and acted like one of the girls she'd never get to be. The human world was never really her world; she'd always known that much but, then again, the supernatural world wasn't where she belonged either. Where did she belong? Did she have a place to call home? —Sure, once or twice, a long time ago, but everything went up in flames.

A low chuckle escaped her as she brought the travelers' mug she was holding to her lips —only a few more minutes left till sunrise. A few more minutes till the start of another day, a day in which she'd once more make no progress, another day she'd stay in a one-horse town like a sitting duck instead of being out there, moving. —Running. All out of some misbegotten belief that the promise she had been made would be fulfilled.

It was starting to seem pointless…

Laura Hale had turned out to be one very hard woman to find, but being who she was, it was almost natural. For a few weeks she had lurked around town, played tourist, asked inconspicuous questions about the Hale woman but nobody seemed willing to answer; they all gave her the same spooked look before pointing her towards the Sheriff's office. But she never bothered. It's not like she could walk in there and say **"**I'm looking for Laura Hale, your town's almighty Alpha**"**. That would roll well, insert sarcasm.

Sighing she pushed herself away from the banister and ran a hand through her long hair. She didn't want to, but she had pushed back this day too much already. Today she had to dress up, act like a normal teen and enroll herself in high school like she had promised people who had actually made something of themselves. People who had willingly taken one for the team —hell, they had taken one for her. And it was all it took. This was her way of saying thank you to them; not letting herself go, not letting the opportunities they gave her go to waste because she sometimes didn't see the point in trying for a borrowed life.

* * *

The pack was a mismatched group but they somehow made it all work. They were an odd fit, or maybe family, in which they all had found their place and contributed with their mere existence. Scott was an inspiring leader, Stiles was quirky yet wise, Kira was grounded, Malia was spontaneous, Liam was eager and Lydia…

She was always known for being quality. —Soon-to-be elected senior class president, junior prom queen, straight-A student and, as of the start of the school year, a volunteer at the tutoring center. Hell, if she was being honest, she had mostly done that for Malia before the rest of the gang; if most members of the McCall pack had one thing in common was their mediocre grades. And she planned to change that for them, she wanted to make sure they all went with a bang. She didn't want the town to sigh in relief when they graduate and she refused to accept anything different than making a good exit; they needed something good to happen in their lives and maybe leaving high school on a good note would be just what they needed to start adulthood anew.

Senior year, Stiles and Lydia had taken it upon themselves to be the group's reality check since everything started going downhill. And the past year wasn't so kind to them either; the dead pool had physically and mentally exhausted them and the deaths of Ethan and Jackson have left them with a feeling of defeat. They lost two of their own; people who weren't even on the list. People who were innocent; who didn't use what they were to cause harm and only tried to find their place in the world like all young men their age.

And for what? All because they were deemed guilty of an uncommitted crime. —Monsters inside a crazed mind.

In the mist of all the destruction their junior year had been, the pack had made some valuable allies in the most unlikely places. Crazy as it was, the Mexican hunters slash friendly cartel was now on their side. See, Araya Calavera was a smart woman and, in a weird way, a fair one too. She supported the hunt, she lived for it even, but she did not kill innocent kids. And it was the Calaveras who cleaned up the mess the pack had made after the ultimate face off and Scott had found himself in their debt. At first it seemed like an ominous idea but when all the hunters asked for was a promise to eliminate Kate Argent upon her first misstep, they were all more than happy to agree.

Surprisingly, there wasn't a kill order out for Peter Hale despite his endless list of sins. Yet.

* * *

She tried hard not to stand out in the flock of students flying in and out of classrooms, clogging the hallway in an effort to make the most of their free time before class. Her pace was even, not too fast yet not too slow; she wasn't in a hurry, far from it actually. She knew the drill, she needed both hands to mark the number of schools she had changed over the years and one more wouldn't make a difference to how her future. She could already see how the year would go; like in all her old schools, the kids would stare at her and then avoid her like the plague till she did something completely irresponsible or one of the jocks deemed her hot enough to chase after —at that point she'd become the school's most popular girl and all the boys would chase her while the girls would either hate her —shocker!— or want to be her friends just to soak up some of the attention before it died down and she'd become just another Senior among many.

The dark floral dress she wore wasn't exactly her style and her heeled boots wouldn't make running away a cakewalk but the outfit had previously been deemed 'first day appropriate' so it would do. Asking a group she pinpointed as sophomores, she finally found the administration office and after a little convincing and, sadly, having to bat her eyelashes at a few people, she managed to enroll herself in school without too many uncomfortable questions asked. It's not like she had answers to give them though; not ones that wouldn't get her a ticket to a five-star room in Eichen House anyway. So, for all the school knew, she was an orphan who lost her parents at an accident —it was only half a lie anyway. She was an orphan, or so she considered herself, and her dad was dead.

Schedule in hand she found her first class for the day. English —that was cool or whatever, since it could have been Math and that would be an unfortunate start. Studying the seating chart she found an empty seat at the middle row and plopped herself down as other students came in.

High school jungle rule number one; don't steal someone else's seat unless you have a death wish.

A group of students came in and scattered on the seats around her. The two boys took the seats on her left, one next to her and the other one behind him, a strawberry blonde girl sat right behind her, while a nearly blonde girl sat on her right with a brunette taking the seat behind her. They seemed unfazed by her seating there as they chatted about some list they were done with and had to forget all about —it wasn't like she cared enough to eavesdrop, so she tapped her pen mindlessly on her desk till she was shoved to the left. **"**Hey!**"** She protested looking at the girl on her right.

**"**I told you it'd get her attention.**"** Malia told Kira with a semi-smug look on her face before she turned to the new girl. **"**We've been trying to get you to notice us; hello!**"** she said and Lydia glared at her.

**"**Sweetie, we're trying to get to know her. We don't need her hating us already.**"** Lydia sighed from behind the girl who turned around to look at her —Lydia would hand it to her, she was pretty. She wore a little too much make up but then again so did she once upon a time. **"**I'm Lydia.**"** She announced casually.

**"**Malia.**"** The blonde announced quickly before she even opened her mouth to return the pleasantries or even breathe. **"**Are you new?**"**

She nodded carefully, waiting for some comment to spill out of the tactless girl's —Malia's— mouth but the only thing that came was a grin that took over most of her face. Wow, she wasn't sure people had ever grinned so widely at her without her even uttering a single word. Oh well, maybe it was time for her to open her mouth and speak, be the change she wanted to see in her life or at least make an effort towards all the things she wanted for herself and never could have. **"**Kaya.**"** she offered simply and Malia nodded and pumped her fist in the air towards Lydia in some weird victory. Okay, on second thought, this Malia girl may be a little weird…

**"**Don't mind her.**"** the boy sitting next to her whispered. **"**Last year she was the new girl and she hated it. I'm Scott.**"** he offered with a lopsided smile before pointing to the boy behind him and then the girl behind Malia. **"**My buddy Stiles and that's Kira, my girlfriend.**"**

Kaya acknowledged them with a nod while Stiles waved at her frantically while Kira offered a timid smile. They were odd as a group but at least they were friends, she thought. Who did she have? Nobody to call a friend or family, nobody to go home to; just an empty motel room waiting for her, with frozen meals and cups of instant coffee the single mom next door make for her in the mornings as a thank you for watching out for her little ones while she ran errands for other tenants of the motel in order to raise some extra cash. So her neighbor and her twins were all she had —it didn't bode well with her. It wasn't who she was; sure she kept her life to herself but she was raised in communities, with many people around her.

Maybe just this once, Kaya had to mentally scold herself and refrain from passing judgment because, odd as these people were, they had reached out to her when the rest had ignored her. So she smiled a little brighter and chatted with them. She allowed Lydia to towel off some of her make up in the bathroom during the break and squeezed herself between Kira and Liam, her cute little sophomore cuddle-bear, who seemed to have developed an instant baby brother syndrome when it came to her, during lunch.

And so two weeks went by almost without her even noticing that Lydia's perfectionism was slowly becoming the bane of her existence. The shorter girl had decided it was in Kaya's benefit to join the tutoring class she was overseeing just to catch up with the rest of them and of course improve her grades. —Just what she needed, more studying. It wasn't like Kaya cared about school or grades all that much; she just wanted to make it to graduation alive. Scott seemed to enjoy her small personal hell and find all of her frustrated faces amusing till Kira finally jabbed him hard on the ribs before saying Lydia only meant well. In all honesty, she gathered that much when she saw Malia's notes from junior year and compared them with her notes now. There was admittedly a major improvement there…

Okay, Lydia Martin may or may not know how to make miracles happen around town, Kaya had to admit. But she didn't need a 4.0 average; she needed to find Laura Hale, explain her situation and get the she-wolf to agree help keeping her alive. Her situation was that simple actually, simple yet complicated at the same time. She needed someone to keep her from eventually waking up dead so she'd come to need Lydia's help in getting that damn perfect average and maybe a kickass dress to wear for graduation.

In her days there with her new friends she learnt a lot of cool stuff; Kira's dad was their history teacher and Lydia's mom had taken on teaching a few junior classes. Liam's dad was a doctor while Scott's mom was a nurse and Stiles' dad was the Sheriff. It was convenient and scary how resourceful her new friends turned out to be and how easy it would be for her to manipulate a few situations here and there to the advantage of her cause. But no, in her short time with them, she had actually grown fond of their odd little group —a group they seemed to consider her a part of if the fact that the girls' going to the bathroom with her or the boys' inviting her to watch them practice was an indicator.

They counted her in when they made plans; it wasn't something that often happened to her and being around them she had soon come to realize that they did it though it wasn't always easy for them either. Maybe all those years she had spent practically friendless were her fault. She understood better than anyone that she wasn't an easy person to be around; wound up too tight, always ready to bolt, weary of everyone's intentions but her own. She never realized till that moment that maybe she was putting an invisible barrier between herself and the rest of the world. Maybe she had been her own worst enemy when it came to being normal.

These people didn't hold back; not as much as she did anyway. They spoke their minds and told stories, though sometimes wary, and through one of those stories she came into a useful piece of information regarding the Hales. The family still lived in Beacon Hills, Liam had let the information slipped to the obvious discomfort of the rest, in a loft somewhere in the industrial area of the town. She gathered quickly that they didn't want her knowing much about the Hales or that they obviously had some sort of connection to them. Kaya didn't mind their withholding from her all that much; it wasn't like she was letting them in all of her secrets so she didn't push the issue. She had gotten what she needed to know without forcing anyone's hand so there was no need to make life hard on anyone for going over the heads of everyone else by sharing more.

Did they know what the Hales were? With all the secrecy, yes, she could bet her head on it. Her new gang was more than a mismatched group of friends; they acted like a pack. Which made it even weirder for her to pinpoint... Had Laura created this weird ass pack of kids? Kaya didn't know the woman, but she wouldn't be surprised if she had; not really. The werewolves had long ago freed themselves from the narrow sense of terms like **'**pack**'** or **'**family**'**. Which is why, she thought, they'd always survive unlike others...

The werewolves, as she knew them, were actually benevolent creatures at heart; warm and ready to offer someone the world had they proved themselves to be on the right side. But their trust had to be earned with pure honesty; which could totally come back to bite her if things went awry. Suddenly there was more for her to lose than just being denied the support of Laura Hale; now she had friends to lose as well. And most importantly, if it all went downhill, she could even lose her life.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Will update for reviews! ㈆9 Just kidding —or not. Only one way to figure out...**

* * *

The night was surprisingly stormy for California, even in that time of the year, as Derek stood by the huge window frame of his loft watching the lightning strike. He remembered his mother telling him stories about those things; that if it hit sand, the lightening would create a type of glass sculpture, some weirdly shaped menagerie. —All a person had to do was dig the thing out.

Oh how he missed his mother; his old life before the fire, before Kate Argent, before Peter's sanity went out the window or Laura's murder, before he had all these problems to deal with.

This place, the loft, was his home now but, on nights like this, he missed the old Hale house. The old dump had been his family home, the place he was born and raised in till he was a teen; he had all sorts of memories from that house yet somehow he abandoned all of them there.

Letting go was something he needed to do if he wanted to survive…

Last year, when they had been ripped off, he thought about moving back to that place. He'd have fixed it all on his own if he had to, recreate what his family had built back in the good days; for himself, Peter and that mismatched pack of kids. But it didn't come to that since most of their money had been salvaged in bearer bonds so their lives didn't have to change yet again. So what was left of the house ended up being demolished, along with what was left of his childhood, and a new building of his family's ownership would soon be standing in its place —he was yet to decide its purpose though. But it wasn't just for him; nothing he did was ever just for him, none of the decisions he made were all about him even if he let people think he was being a selfish bastard who only looked out for number one. Low key, he had helped Scott's family fix their house, paid off the Sheriff's debt to Eichen House and, in the spur of the moment, bought the Martin lake house for Cora and Malia to have a piece of roof above their heads if they ever came to be in need again.

—He had to look out for the kids.

His thoughts were once more all over the place, from the next potential danger that would eventually come knocking on their doors and Peter's whereabouts in this freaking storm to their need for more furniture; like an a fold-out couch or a proper bed maybe. —Isaac was coming back for Christmas or so he had been mailed; poor kid's first calm Christmas outside the damn freezer and the clutches of an abusive father. If the kid wanted to, they'd work something out and he could crash over with him like he did back when he was part of his pack and they were all in hiding together —him, Isaac, Erica, Boyd..he hadn't thought of them in a while and he felt like he betrayed them and their memory sometimes for not sparing them a second thought. But Lahey had been attached to Chris Argent's hip since even before Allison died so he doubted he'd be top pick in the housing matter. Maybe it was best if he stayed with Argent once more, at least he knew how to prepare an edible dinner that didn't come from the inside of a box.

What the hell was he even thinking? They had months to go till Christmas. This Christmas though would be heavier, harder, on the kids and he knew it...

Another lightning illuminated his features, his jaw locked hard. Jackson was gone now; he never really cared for the kid, let alone liked or considered him a friend. The boy was always more of a hassle to him really, but he was dead now and one could easily put the blame on him and say it was his fault.

Who was he kidding? It _was_ his fault.

It was his call to have everyone called back to base; Jackson, Isaac, Ethan, even Cora —he called them all back to fight that battle with them when he was powerless. He brought them back to a hell they had managed to escape when they had been safe. It was his call. Ethan; it was different with him. Since Aiden's death the boy was half a man walking —he had lost his will to live, he just fought, struggled his way through the day. Ethan may have actually found redemption in death and Derek wasn't even shocked about it.

What had surprised him more than anything though, was that when all was said and done and the bodies were laid to rest —somewhat— Lydia had looked him in the eye, hand touching his face, and told him she didn't blame him for Whittemore's premature death. It was a relief, knowing how the banshee and the boy had been, but it did nothing for him in the long term; it didn't matter if the pack didn't blame him, he blamed himself enough for all of them.

For Jackson, for Ethan —it was guilt he had to live with, more coffins to rest on his conscience...

* * *

Being the Beacon Hills Sheriff, John Stilinski was used to his phone ringing in every ungodly hour known to man. But every single time it did, he'd hold his breath and check for Stiles; see if that weird yet precious boy of his was safely tucked into bed. Since Claudia died, he lived only for his son. So when that damn phone rung late at night, he'd let himself breathe only after he made sure his boy was asleep in his room, safe and sound from everything that went bump in the night.

And in all honesty, Stiles and his friends had a knack for finding themselves right in the middle of all the drama.

He immediately regretted answering that call; it was his job to do it but no one in their right minds would want to go out with that storm. But he had to, insert deep **'**I hate my job**'** sigh. Nodding quietly to himself as Parrish filled him in over the phone he glanced out the window and then towards the door of his son's room. If Stiles had heard that phone call he'd already be on his feet, phone in his ear calling Scott, ready to follow him and make his work more difficult. **"**This town will give me whites before my time is due...**"** he mumbled ending the call and pulled his raincoat tightly against himself. Quickly scribbling a note for his son in case he woke up and didn't find him there, John picked up his keys and locked the door behind him.

An hour later John found himself pacing up and down the station hallway, thinking; in the last two-point-something years he had seen a shit-ton of weird things happen in Beacon Hills. —Men turning into animals, people rising from the dead, weird animal-skin wearing fighters, some weird Mexican version of the Fountain of Youth; you name it, he'd seen it. Yet somehow the sight in front of him, in his own office, was beyond any and every expectation. Admittedly, overtime he learnt how to deal with moody werewolves, banshees in a distress, all sorts of werewolf hybrids with daddy issues and an identity crisis, things disappearing into thin air, hired assassins and even his very much possessed son —but this, somehow, he didn't know how to handle.

Stilinski uncomfortably watched the scene slowly unfold from the hallway window overlooking to the reception and quickly shut the blinds when an always grumpy Derek and an ever murderous Peter stormed through the police station towards him.

This night kept getting worse with every passing minute…

Derek, he knew, despite his aggressive attitude and intense glares was usually level headed and thought things through, but Peter —he was ruthless and did things in the spur of the moment without thinking of what would come next and what the consequences of his actions might be. Which was practically the reason he had spent part of his summer locked up in Eichen House lost in his own mind till they decided he had learnt his lesson or so they hoped. John was almost afraid of what would happen if Peter demanded some **'**alone time**'** in his office with the culprit.

**"**Seriously?**"** Derek exclaimed throwing his hands in the air as he reached the Sheriff. It wasn't just that he was pissed, he was also surprised. He sure didn't expect to be called to the police station in the middle of the night for that reason. Hell, he didn't expect be called in for something like this ever. It was just insane that this was happening; no one in their right minds would… Oh wait, he did the same two years ago. _Great job Derek_, he scoffed at himself and tried to reserve all judgment for later.

**"**This is..insulting. I want to claw someone's throat out.**"** Peter mumbled and turned to Derek **"**Just… Let me have this one.**"** he all but pleaded to his nephew and John huffed unpleased with the elder Hale's antics.

**"**You realize we don't kill people here, right? Jeez...**"** John whisper yelled at the blue-eyed man as he opened his office door to reveal what he was coming to think of as the new bane of his existence. And considering the people he was dealing with on a daily basis, it said a lot. —And Stiles didn't even know about this yet.

This was getting worse by the second.

* * *

Derek and Peter paused surprised by the door and looked at each other for a quick second, both men's eyebrows lifting in question, before turning to a shrugging John.

**"**Oh, visitors.**"**

Derek stared in disbelief at the girl in front of him and ran his palm along his recently trimmed beard. This was a joke; it had to be a joke. There was no other reasonable explanation there. Yep, John Stilinski had decided to play a prank on them, a **'**welcome back to town**'** thing in the middle of the night, or maybe it was a **'**screw you**'** for all the messes he had to clean up on their account.

**"**Who the hell are you?**"** Peter asked, jaw securely one with the floor. Despite his wildly active imagination, even he didn't expect a teenage girl to be the reason they were there. He'd much rather prefer to see a Kanima or an Oni ready to rip them a new one than this.

This —this was so far out of his comfort zone that he didn't know how to react.

Derek took a moment to examine the sight the girl waiting in the Sherriff's office was. Long half-dried dark brown hair, hazel eyes, make-up surprisingly in place, long uncovered legs —one on the chair she was occupying and the other on the floor to help herself make rounds on the Sheriff's spinning chair. She was carelessly turning the pages of a magazine, one of those Lydia would often read when he first met her, and held a police-crested cup of steaming hot coffee on the other hand; she seemed content, at ease with the scene, unlike most people who had been caught and taken to the police station. He had to admit the girl looked good…

—What the hell was he thinking? Damn it, she couldn't be any older than Malia, for crying out loud. Why was he acting like a predator harping over teenagers?

She had a look of mischief in her eyes when they shifted to him, something he couldn't place; something like pride. As if she wasn't in a police station, as if she didn't exactly mind getting caught.

Weird.

**"**I knew you liked me from the start, Sheriff, but you didn't have to recruit the local GQ models to keep me company**"** Kaya laughed setting the magazine and her coffee on the desk and John shook his head closing the door behind him. She spared both men a look of appreciation; their strong features and similar body type clued her into the fact they were related to each other. And they were both, hands down, gorgeous.

Peter opened his mouth a few times with no words coming out; that was a first.

**"**So let me get this; you broke into our old house...**"** Derek said slowly, thinking cautiously of his every word while trying to place her, as he pulled the seat on the other side of the desk for himself, elbows resting on his knees once he was seated. Despite himself, he found some humor in this entire situation. **"**Why?**"** he asked fighting a chuckle threatening to escape his lips.

Kaya stopped spinning around on the chair and rolled the chair around enough so the desk wasn't between them anymore. Had they been someplace else, this might have been a dumb idea. He was a total stranger, one who had that rugged and dangerous look about him, but being in a police station gave her a sense of security and enough cockiness to be as reckless as she pleased. Worst thing they could do was arrest her, which was probably happening later that night but she didn't particularly care all that much. She'd be the safest criminal in town if they put her behind bars.

**"**Well...**"** she mimicked his body language, unfolding herself, resting her own elbows on her bare knees **"**if we're being technical **'**breaking in**'** actually implies there's a location and an breach of security and, I hate to break it to you, GQ, but that house _is_ no longer a house so to speak.**"** she chuckled confidently as she stated the obvious for him.

**"**Point taken.**"** Derek smirked returning the look of appreciation she had given him earlier. Not only was she pretty but she was also a smart mouthed little thing. It was almost endearing how she had the guts to tell off a stranger, a stranger whose property she had been trespassing earlier that night nevertheless. She really had no idea, he thought, of the things he could do to her if he had been in a foul mood. Had she been talking to Peter —or even himself a couple of years ago— he would have snapped her in half like a twig, not much thought behind the action.

She was that lucky.

**"**Excuse me, little miss know-it-all, but let me ask again since my nephew's too busy ogling your underage assets; who the hell are you?**"** Peter growled from the seat he had taken on the old beat up leather couch next to the door and earned himself a glare from Derek. Sometimes he wondered if he was the only whose brain still functioned around pretty little things.

**"**Kaya.**"** she just shrugged and gave Derek a shit-eating grin for the fact that his own uncle —point for her for calling the family gene— had called him out on it. Giving them her name was nothing, a necessary evil If she wanted to get somewhere with all of this. **"**And since it's so obvious by all the testosterone in the room that none of you is Laura Hale —where exactly can I find her?**"** she asked, playful eyes meeting Derek's and he suddenly froze. Why the hell did everyone have to freeze when she—

**"**Laura's dead.**"** Peter spoke coldly and her head snapped towards him. He didn't elaborate and he didn't offer the information gently. He just spit it out as if he'd otherwise choke on it.

No, this wasn't happening. She turned slowly to Derek hoping he would deny it, tell her that Peter was playing her, but he didn't. The room suddenly felt a hundred degreed colder than it did before, more silent; so silent she could hear her own heart beating and blood pumping. Her eyes blurred and her hands began shaking uncontrollably.

She was panicking.

If Laura was dead then this was a dead end. Beacon Hills was another dead end.

She thought of all the years she spent moving around; the people she met, the abandonment and the feeling of suffocation that came along when she knew something bad was going to happen to her. She thought of her dad and how he always promised her that, one way or another, she'd be safe. Only she wasn't going to be; not if, after everything she had been through, Laura Hale was dead too. Who would protect her now?

Sure, she could play Warrior Princess once more and set out to slay her dragon but she was smart enough to know she wouldn't survive out there alone for a long time. She made it so far only because she had been granted other people's protection; she could at least admit that much to herself. She had been rather lucky in the past years; lucky to meet the people she did, lucky to be deemed worthy of their protection, lucky to be alive. —And now all was lost. This was it; the end was finally here.

She was going to die.

**"**Hey!**"** her eyes snapped open to find a pair of hands holding her arms tightly as they shook her violently —Peter. **"**Jeez kid…**"** he mumbled taking a step back from her, hair running through his hair in exasperation, and the Sheriff came practically running into the room.

**"**You're not going to die, kiddo, we won't let you.**"** John reassured her as he kneeled next to her and she tried to smile but it came out like a grimace. Had she said that out loud? And how had she ended up on the floor? **"**You're going to be fine.**"** he said again pulling her into a reassuring embrace, his gaze now focusing on Derek and Peter.

He had no idea what the hell was going on and, obviously, neither had the werewolves in the room. But he knew for a fact that, whatever this was, it was not going to end well for any of them. And not any time soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm clearly updating a lot cause we're still in the chapters I've re-written. Things will be slower later, just saying.**

**In the meantime, I want to thank you for reading this story and reviewing it and thank you for taking the time to Follow/Favorite it. So..keep up the R&amp;R ****—let me know what you think, it's always helpful. Enjoy!**

* * *

He felt like a creep sitting there, watching her sleep. Great, he was pulling a Kate once more over that girl.

He kept telling himself he only took her home with him because of the panic that consumed her when she heard about his sister, that he was only watching her sleeping because he was worried and all torn up inside since her pain reminded him of how he felt when he lost his family. Or maybe, being the animal that he was deep down, it was a survival instinct of his; like a predator, he had to watch closely and carefully when a new species walked into his territory.

Kaya had actually walked into his family home —the land anyway— as if it was her own and then strutted into his apartment before staking a very firm claim on his bed, at least for that one night. Like she owned him and everything in his life, like they were all hers to do as she pleased with.

Peter cleared his throat from behind him. **"**She's in your bed.**"** he stated and for a minute Derek refused to dignify his uncle's observation with an answer somewhere between **'**duh**'** and **'**thanks Captain Obvious**'**. Knowing him a little too well, he knew there was more to come, so he waited. **"**And she's wearing your clothes.**"**

**"**I know.**"** he said simply since it was the obvious thing. He realized how this looked to others; her, sprawled across his bed dressed in his clothes and him, watching her from across the room as she slept. **"**You took your sweet time getting her things from the motel, I had to put the kid to sleep and send her to school in the morning. Wet clothes were not exactly an option.**" **He said cringing at the fact that he called her a kid when she didn't look like one. Or maybe he cringed over the fact that he had willingly claimed responsibility over her without someone having to try and force it on him.

In fact, John had actually tried to fight him on taking her home with him but he wouldn't have it.

**"**Tomorrow's Saturday.**"** Peter chuckled and shook his head unconvinced. **"**And I'm not her damn maid, thank you.**"** he said and threw a couple of duffle bags on Derek's feet. **"**I hope you know you're not getting my bed.**"** he said patting his nephew on the back mockingly. **"**No good deed, they say...**"**

**"**You killed Laura, you know. _She_'s your fault.**"** Derek accused pointing towards the sleeping Kaya.

Peter didn't bother denying it as he turned towards the kitchen; Laura would have handled this. And he killed her. But for whatever it was worth, if there was one person he'd bring back from the dead if he could, it would be her. Not his sister or even the mother whose death Malia blamed herself over; just Laura. Because he really was sorry about what he did to her.

Peter paused.

He killed Laura —fact.

Kaya was in Beacon Hills looking for her —fact.

Had Laura been alive she would have let the girl stay —fact.

He turned his head slightly towards Derek and sighed. **"**We're keeping her, aren't we?**"**

Derek sighed at that. **"**She's not a puppy for us to keep...**"** he said as sternly as he could while turning his head towards Peter before his gaze returned to the form of the sleeping girl on his bed **"**But yeah; I guess we're keeping her.**"**

Peter laughed slightly; he'd never understand what this thing Derek had for damsels in distress and taking in stray teens was. First there was McCall, then Stilinski and then the horde that came with them. **"**Take the bed tonight.**"** he told Derek sighing before smirking at himself. **"**I feel like harassing my new pet.**"**

Derek bit back a laugh. **"**I _almost_ feel sorry for her**"** he called after Peter who laughed as he walked to the door, waving his hand casually in salute. Lie; Derek would never feel sorry for Kate. If there was one person he'd never grow out of hating it was her; she took away his life like she owned it. And one day he would return the favor.

Somehow.

* * *

Despite being woken up in the middle of the night and sleeping on the couch for the rest of it instead of his or Peter's bed, Derek felt like he had the best sleep in years. His chest didn't feel heavy and he refused to open his eyes so the feeling wouldn't end —it was totally unlike his usual dread for the day ahead of him. His joy was very short lived though since Stiles checked in bright and early and by the second they ended the call, Derek had already regretted talking to him about his night and how he came to be **'**in possession**'** of a girl named Kaya. Now he had a horde of teens, like Peter loved to say, coming over to talk things through in the first Saturday morning he liked in the past decade.

He sighed and flexed his muscles a bit out of habit, watching Kaya sleep a lot more peacefully than she first did last night —he had spent enough time observing her, he knew. She looked so young when she was asleep; the intense make up that was still on her face didn't make her as intimidating as it did when she was awake and ripping the world a new one every time she opened her mouth. She was a smartass, that one, and he didn't know whether to feel fond of her or burdened by the fact that she had taken over his space in the blink of an eye.

Exactly thirty six minutes later the entire McCall pack was handing around coffees and emptying card boxes full of baked goodies on his coffee table. Scott stood next to him against the large centerpiece table by the window, both quiet with their arms crossed, as Kira sneaked Stiles a bagel and Lydia pulled it away from his grasp before he got the chance to bite it.

**"**I think we should wake her.**"** Malia said tilting her head and moved towards the bed, plopping herself next to Kaya, her face nuzzling the sleeping girl's almost raven dark hair. Liam ran after her and jumped carefully on the other side, nudging Kaya's neck with his face a few times causing Lydia to laugh a little at him from across the room for being a total puppy when it came to their new friend. It was something everyone loved to tease the boy about; Stiles even saying her had a crush on her but Liam would always shudder and refuse saying she was like the older sister he never had.

Kaya popped an eye open to Liam's grinning face. **"**You're pretty, but no**"** she mumbled in a half-grumpy tone and pushed him off the bed —he made a pained sound but the 6 inch fall only hurt his ego— and turned around to see Malia grinning. **"**No...**"** she protested covering her face but by then Liam was on the bed again and Stiles had joined them too, sitting at her feet.

**"**You ever miss it?**"** Scott asked Derek catching him smile timidly at the scene in front of them. Seeing Derek smile had been a rare sight to see when they first met but since then the once sourwolf had taken a page from the younger ones' book and learnt to enjoy the small things in life too; such as this morning. He was trying to at least; he was trying to learn how to enjoy life again.

He had almost forgotten how…

**"**Miss what?**"** he asked looking at the younger Alpha for a few seconds. He knew all too well what Scott meant; for better or worse, he knew the young man too well not to understand. Derek wouldn't say it out loud, afraid of sounding creepy once more, but he was telling the truth back then —the bite made them brothers in a sense that most people couldn't realize. He knew Scott was only now starting to realize the truth behind the statement; now that he had made a Beta of his own in Liam. He could see it in the way he looked at the younger boy, tried to take care of him and guide him as Derek himself had tried and mostly failed to do for Scott himself.

**"**The domestic joys...**"** Scott said with a boyish grin. He could have said it better, surely, but the words fitted the case just fine. They were a very domestic scene at that moment; them, comfortably talking, the rest of their friends sitting on the bed being their animated selves —something they only had the chance to be for tiny amounts of time every few months…

**"**I do. Sometimes…**"** Derek admitted; his eyes fixated on the group of teens who had taken over his bed. **"**But then you guys come over and it's all good —till Stilinski over there opens his big mouth and makes me want to strangle him that is...**"** he chuckled and Scott fought back his laughter. Yeah, Derek missed this life more than anything. He missed a house full of people to laugh with, share things with or even fight with; he missed having people in his life to share it with.

His eyes focused on Kaya for a second; what had this girl done? She broke not only into what was once his house but apparently in every aspect of his life; his loft, the pack and somehow, without even blinking, she had managed to make his house a home…

**"**You guys are creepy.**"** Kaya said snapping Scott and Derek out of their little dazed state when she caught them staring and waved a finger in their direction.

**"**That's what I keep telling them but no one ever listens to me…**"** Malia stated, somewhat complaining, and Liam laughed at how true her comment was before the rest joined in.

Derek and Scott were not amused.

* * *

He wasn't used to mornings like the one unfolding in his loft.

His days were mostly grey and dull, waiting on his toes for an impending disaster to find them so he could put himself in the front line and hope to die. But there were things in the world even Derek Hale found beautiful and worth savoring; a well brewed coffee, a good bottle of whiskey, the smell of cookies baking in the oven, the sound of caroling on Christmas day and a room full of people chatting and laughing with seemingly no care in the world. But he also knew from experience, a little all too well in fact, that all good things must come to end.

Doom, gore, blood and gloom —that's Beacon Hills for you.

**"**I can't believe my dad arrested her last night.**"** Stiles hyperventilated for no reason. He was a real sweetheart and he liked Kaya so he wasn't comfortable with the idea of his dad taking her in. **"**Were there any cuffs involved? Tell me there weren't any cuffs.**"** he looked at Derek almost jumping up and down with worry that she may have been mistreated and Kira tried not to laugh at his reaction and the level of protectiveness he was demonstrating towards Kaya in such a short time after meeting her.

Derek was mildly offended Stiles seemed to forget his dad had him dragged around in handcuffs yet doing the same to Kaya would be nearly a crime —on second thought, maybe it would be…

**"**Do you honestly think there's a man in this world that can get away with cuffing that one?**"** Scott said tilting his head making a point and Stiles nodded realizing not even his dad would get to do that. Like ever. Seeing how feisty and strong willed she could be, from her first days in school even, he knew that between her and his dad; well, she was most likely to find a way to cuff him than having it the other way around.

He so didn't need to tell his dad that.

**"**Am I the only one who finds them extremely cute?**"** Malia asked joining the small group and pointed towards Derek's bed where Kaya was braiding Lydia's hair and Liam was making the most awkward attempt in the history of the most awkward attempts of braiding hers. Poor kid was failing miserably at copying her and was practically tying her hair in knots that untangled themselves before he could make the next one. **"**Is this what you guys call puppy love?**"**

**"**Close.**"** Kira shrugged. **"**But if Liam was a puppy I think she'd totally keep him.**"** Malia grinned at that; somehow puppy jokes were her favorite, maybe because she didn't get the irony of them coming from a group like theirs. Hey, she spent most of her life walking around in all fours, licking her fur so there's always that…

Without any notice Stiles put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly causing everyone to halt their movement and curse under their breaths. **"**I hate to break this nice party we have going on but we need to talk about a thing or two…**"** he said rotating his upper body a little to stretch. **"**Preferably before the wildcards get here.**"**

Derek sighed audibly and moved towards the footing of the bed, taking a seat on the floor. He saw Kaya making a **'**who?**'** face and Lydia whispering Peter and Kate's names to her, poor girl was clueless. She shrugged and moved towards the head of the bed, placing the pillow she used on Liam's side, making herself comfortable —what? He was too cute to object when she used his as a breathing pillow— and everyone took a seat wherever they could find one.

It was story time…

**"**What do you guys want to know?**"** she sighed knowingly.

Despite the nice start of the day she knew this wasn't a social call by any means and the fact that Derek had called everyone over, first thing, added more to her point about all of them being part of the same pack. Observing the faces around her she realized something; she wasn't in the inner circle yet, not completely, but she wasn't exactly out of it either. Every decision that was going to be made would have an impact on her fate; everything would be judged by this conversation and how honest she could be with them, how much she could share and whether or not they'd respect the secrets she wasn't ready to share just yet.

**"**Why did you want Laura to begin with?**"** Derek asked first, his tone as less aggressive as he possibly could. He had made up his mind about keeping her just because Laura would —but Beacon Hills was practically a supernatural warzone, he had to know what he'd have to fight against if or when things got to that point.

Kaya breathed out a small laugh, she expected this question from him —it was a good place as any to start her story she guessed. But first they needed to set some ground rules on this. **"**How about we start with you guys first?**"** she started pointing to each of them; Liam, Lydia, Stiles, Kira, Malia, Scott and finally Derek. **"**Cuddle bear. Brainy Prom Queen. Adorable awkwardness. Cute but graceless. Worse social skills than mine." everyone starting saying the word **'**progress**'** around on her comment on Malia **"**Poster child for responsibility and mister dark-and-dangerous. And don't let me forget Peter, in all his ungodly glory. You guys are —wow. You're the most mismatched pack ever.**"** she said clapping her hands together and took in everyone's shocked face.

She would have laughed if it wasn't going to make things weird.

"Um… How did you come up with this exactly?**"** Lydia asked carefully trying to fill the silence and cover everyone's shocked state. And here she thought someone normal finally transferred to their school; but no such luck of course. Nobody in Beacon Hills was normal. Nobody normal came to town —and if they did, the town spoiled them soon enough.

**"**Tie-in with Derek's question.**"** Kaya exclaimed almost comically. **"**I know people and they taught me stuff.**"** she shrugged. **"**Okay, I'm making everyone nervous here; don't worry, I'm not going to grow claws and canines and eat you all —that's some of you guys.**"** she made a weird face but continued. **"**Anyway, I spent a couple of years with a wolf pack in Washington and one of my friends there told me that if I ever came to need anything; from someone to have coffee with me to setting a hit list on half the country, I should come look for Laura…**"**

**"**Hit list on half the country, she says…**"** Stiles muttered throwing his hands in the air worried and a bit fed up with things like this happening to them over and over again and Scott shushed him waving his hand for her to keep talking.

**"**Your house; my friend said Laura didn't live there anymore but it was the easiest way to find her. —Find the property, find Laura; or so was the plan. When I got here and she was nowhere to be seen or heard from, I camped near the area waiting for her to show up or at least catch some gossip on her or something.**"** she explained. **"**But of course she's dead so that explains the radio silence I guess…**"** she chuckled humorlessly. **"**Anyway, I didn't know and I had to get your attention somehow.**"**

**"**Last night, when you heard Laura was dead, you panicked.**"** Derek spoke and all eyes focused on him. **"**You kept saying you were going to die. Why?**"** he had been dying inside to ask her that question during the entire drive from the police station to this place and then while they waited for Peter till the very second she fell asleep. Instead, he had kept his mouth shut, gave her a clean set of his clothes and pointed her towards the bathroom before all but tacking her in to bed.

**"**I didn't come to Beacon Hills for a social call, Derek.**"** she said calmly and as evenly as possible. **"**I came here because the pack I was running with; they're all dead and I needed Laura to keep me alive.**"** Kaya tried to keep it as simple as she could. It wasn't too late, they could still kick her to the curb, they didn't need to know everything just yet, there was still time for that.

**"**All dead, she says…**"** Stiles mumbled again and this time Derek grabbed him from the back of his neck and closed his mouth with his palm. When Stiles stopped moving and raised his hands in surrender Derek finally released him. It made Kaya chuckle.

**"**Why would you come here for help?**"** Scott asked and paused for a second before asking hesitantly. **"**What about your family?**" **There it was, the billion dollar question, the question everyone was always dying to ask.

**"**My dad died when I was about 6 years old. Usual **'**girl versus world**'** sob story and since I don't see any tissues around, I'll save it for another time...**"** she laughed humorlessly. She wanted to cry every time her dad was brought up, but instead she laughed. It was what she did, she kept her war-paint on at all times and laughed or partied when she wanted to scream or cry. Her mom; she never mentioned her. You can't talk about someone you know nothing about. **"**I came here because the people I was with —well, Laura owed them one; I was told that the second I dropped their names I'd be safe. That she'd take care of me.**"** she said looking at Scott. **"**It's not like people are exactly after me; I'm pretty almost useless if we're being honest here...**"** she laughed uncomfortably toying with her fingers.

She wasn't sure if that was true; not really, but she certainly felt that way sometimes. True, she knew a trick or two but she didn't have claws or a lethal bite, she wasn't supernaturally strong or fast and, except a sharp intuition, her senses were plain average —unless you counted her high tolerance to alcohol as a talent…

**"**Then what do they want you for?**"** Kira asked slowly reaching over to take Kaya's hand in hers. The girl was trying to be understanding and supportive but she was still curious, Kaya knew. It wasn't just about getting to know her; this was about their survival as well. They had trusted people blindly before and it seldom ended well for them…

Kaya bit on her lip for a second and shook her head. She wasn't sure herself; it couldn't be because of the one or two stunts she could pull. She always suspected what it was about but she could never prove it and she didn't really need to. So she told them her only suspicion instead.

**"**I believe the term is bait.**"**

* * *

**A/n: And since we're talking about stuff, I must say I haven't kept up with tumblr tags in a while and just learnt that T.H. is going to be in the second 50 Shades movie. *sigh* I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet... What do you guys think?**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello hello hello! Thank you all for reading and reviewing —and of course favoriting and following.**

**I'm still conflicted about T.H. and 50 Shades, like I said last time. On one hand it's 50 Shades and I'm not into the whole thing, but on the other..it's a small role I guess so it's not that big of a deal...**

* * *

The last time Kaya made breakfast for someone other than herself she was living in a cabin somewhere in the vast woods of Washington State and she had to feed an army of hungry —borderline born starving— werewolves. Cooking for only two of them was a piece of cake for her.

Or it would have been if she knew the tiniest bit about what they liked.

Peter wasn't there when she woke up. In fact the elder Hale had stayed out of her hair so much that she was starting to think that Pack Daddy was deliberately avoiding her as if she was the plague. Maybe it was the nickname she had given him or the fact that she hadn't kept it to herself —oops! Still, when she woke up that morning, she decided to count him in for breakfast as she danced around the open space kitchen and stirred things into a pan while the coffee was brewing. Knowing how sharp a werewolf's senses were, however, she tried her best not to wake Derek who, surprisingly, wasn't up yet.

The sound of the door being pulled open roughly made her curse under her breath thinking that this would surely wake Derek before she was done cooking till a sweaty Peter walked in.

**"**You're awfully domestic this morning, little girl.**"** he said pointing to her little cooking drill. He tried hard not to smile or give away any hint that there was even the slightest possibility that he was approving of her doing what she did —or even her being there. She was slightly painful to watch; roaming around their space as if she was at home, making breakfast and leaving her toiletries in the bathroom —until her, Peter had no idea teenage girls needed so many tubes and sticks or like five different brushes.

This is what he and Derek could have had in their lives if Laura was alive or Cora had decided to stay with them. But the young girl had decided to leave and be on her own; truth be told, maybe it was best for her to keep away from them and the trouble that came with the Hale name.

**"**Yes and I hope you're hungry.**"** she said over her shoulder, stirring her creation some more before pulling it from the fire. Maybe Peter really didn't like her after all, he had every right not to —but hey, she cooked for him so he'd have to eat it; even if she had to force the food down his throat and manually move his jaw up and down repeatedly to make him chew it.

Peter sighed, whatever it was she had made smelled great and of course he was hungry; in fact having someone cook for him warmed his charcoal heart a bit too. The big bad wolf was a sucker for all things domestic, having missed the simple things. He missed having a normal morning at home with breakfast on the table and people smiling at him when he walked into a room instead of displeased grunts and the whole **'**we don't like you**'** attitude the kids often went with. **"**I'll hit the shower. We'll eat and then…**"** he sighed, mentally cursing himself a bit for what he was about to say but couldn't stop the words from spilling out of his mouth. **"**I'll drive you to school.**"** he mumbled for dignity's sake while leaving.

Kaya turned around to watch Peter's retreating figure with a grin on her face. Derek grinned too from his spot on the bed, face hidden from her view, still pretending to be asleep. Hey, she wasn't exactly as quiet as she thought she was when she moved around, but the girl had given up time from her sleep to make them breakfast; he might as well give her the joy of thinking it got to be a surprise. It sure as hell was a joyous thing for him; small bits of normalcy she was bringing into his home.

* * *

Breakfast with the Hale boys had been a total revelation for Kaya. Those men hadn't had a homemade meal in what she guessed was ages and their eagerness to wolf it down, pun intended, was phenomenal. It made her feel good about herself, that she had done something right, that she gave back to them even if it was only a meal.

**"**I think I'll be making you guys breakfast everyday from now on.**"** she told Peter as he was driving, breaking the silence. They were putting her up, and harm would come their way for that, so she might as well do something nice for the two wolves.

**"**We don't really eat breakfast anymore.**"** Peter announced simply, no malice in his tone so it was evident he wasn't just saying it to hurt her feelings. **"**We only ate because you had already made it.**"** From the corner of his eye he could see her face drop though and he chuckled. —Girls and their easily wounded feelings… **"**We like coffee. You made good coffee.**"**

**"**Thanks. People who don't like coffee are not to be trusted.**"** He smirked at her response —it was a good philosophy to live by— and she smiled before she looked down at her hands. **"**Look, I know I'm intruding. I only came for Laura and, since she's gone, you have no obligation whatsoever to keep me around. You can kick me out anytime you...**"** she said but stopped when Peter waved his hand between them dismissively as he drove.

**"**It's not you, kid.**"** he plainly stated before sighing a few moments later. He didn't plan to have this conversation with her but maybe, just maybe, he should tell her a thing or two so they both knew where they're standing. **"**I've done some pretty awful things, hurt my family a lot; Derek... I don't mind a battle should I ever be thrown into one but, as of lately, I'm just trying to keep my family safe; physically and emotionally.**"** he gave her a pointed look as he pulled up in the school's parking lot.

**"**Yeah, I think I get it**"** she nodded. She did, she really did. Peter thrived in battles but he wanted redemption in the eyes of his family even more. Maybe he was proof that people eventually changed or at least tried their hardest to. **"**I'm not here to hurt anyone; I won't, well, not intentionally —that I can promise you.**"** she said honestly. She didn't expect Peter to talk to her like that, so candidly, and she tried to return the favor. She hoped that trying would be good enough for him, really. **"**I'm not the best person you'll meet out there either, you know. I'll admit I've lied and stolen, I have manipulated people and situations to get what I want, I'm often mean and there are times when it's my way or the highway. So, from one semi-crappy person to another, I get it. You're trying…**"** Kaya explained hoping that elaborating a bit on her own character would help him see she was on the same boat as he was. **"**Thanks for the ride.**"** she smiled getting out of the car and walked towards the others, who were waiting for her in the parking lot.

Peter didn't say anything else to her, but he felt a bit more at ease with the girl staying with them. He smiled to himself as he pulled out of the parking lot when he heard Stiles' shocked voice.

**"**Did Peter Hale just drive you to school?**"**

* * *

He knocked his fist on the table.

He didn't like it when people managed to get away from him and he didn't like it when his people failed. He had zero tolerance towards incompetence and at that very second that was what he thought of him men. They had missed her yet again a little while ago and they still had no lead on where she was; maybe killing every single one of them wasn't the brightest idea after all.

But he couldn't help himself.

He never liked the wolves —he only saw them as mutts, beasts that needed to be slayed or trained as guard dogs but the fact that it was pack wolves she had turned to for protection was what had infuriated him to the point of killing them all before getting some precious answers out of them. Next time he'll do better; next time he'll control his anger and use it as a driving force to crack them, break apart and put them back together till they cave and give him answers. Next time he'll get to her.

Kaya Blake was out there on borrowed time.

He screamed pushing the table in front of him away with force. Killing those pack wolves wasn't enough to get to her; he slaughtered twenty people with unseen brutality just because their land was where she lived, right under his nose merely a town away from him. What a brave little thing she was —more than he gave her credit for. How many more would he have to kill to get a sight of her? To see the woman she had become?

He still remembered the last time he held her in his predatory hands, so small and innocent; she was just a baby. Harmless and ready to shape as he and his people pleased —and she could have become great if she stayed with them, if only she had been placed at their care.

But no...

She must have been 2, maybe 3 months old the first time he saw her; he wasn't sure himself. He had stood over her crib for a while before he decided to pick the infant up and she had wrapped her tiny fist around his index finger and held on tightly; he was certain she had actually liked him unlike her bitch of a mother. The baby did not feel threatened by him but her parents did; in a way they started this, he was only finishing it.

And Kaya was going to pay for her parents' sins.

Unless of course she chose him; then he'd let her live. Then he'd teach her, shape her into who she was always meant to be had she been raised by his side; powerful, respected, feared. Everything he had dreamed of the girl to become. She'd grant him access to so much power and she'd never have to ask twice for anything in return. He'd make her a queen.

But till that day came he held onto his anger and the feeling of holding the once tiny baby in his arms as well as the feeling of her being ripped out of them. She was his anchor; his compass but also a mean to an end. One way or another, she'd get him right to her —her damn mother.

And once he had her, he'd make her regret being born. He still remembered how she aimed that shotgun at him as he held Kaya, screaming at him to get away from her baby. He always found humor in that; how she called Kaya **'**hers**'** when she didn't even want to be a mother to begin with… He still remembered Phil Blake telling him that he would never get to hold his daughter again while he was alive to stop him.

But most of all he remembered her, the object of his wrath, firing that gun while he held the most precious thing he had laid eyes on in years. How she planted a bullet in his left eye and had Phil pry the baby from his arms as he was left to bleed; oh how she must have hoped he'd die...

But he would never give her such joy.

Never.

Next time they meet, he'll make sure she's the one to bleed. Next time he sees her, with his one good eye left to use, he'll make sure he stays over her writhing body till her final breath. He'll make sure his is the last face she'll see. And next time, he'll be the one to take Kaya away from her. Forever.

* * *

The Hale family was always dysfunctional.

Talia Hale was admired as an Alpha but her maternal skills lacked severely; she had easily brushed aside how her son was the reason an innocent girl died and then failed to see he was falling for Kate Argent's fake words and promises —not to mention stealing Peter's memories of becoming a father and then abandoning Malia trapped as a coyote for the world to handle. Evidently, Peter himself was no saint for obvious reasons. He wasn't the best role model to Derek even on a good day, often the one to get him, and now the pack as well, in trouble and his parenting skills were terrible to non-existent when it came to Malia… Also, what kind of uncle killed his niece with such brutally to steal her power status? In his defense, Laura had dumped him to rot in a hospital alone and sent Derek away while she tried to be their mother and make politics.

And Cora? She expressed more emotion when Boyd died than when she found that part of her family was alive —and, other than some witty remarks and glares, she didn't seem to care all that much that Peter murdered Laura. Derek? He used to be all about power; he didn't care if her ruined lives, he turned outcasts into Betas just so he would have a pack to follow him in a war over nothing but his vanity and he cost two of them their lives. He killed his uncle in an act of revenge who in return used him and a teenage girl to come back to this vain world and cause more trouble till he eventually tried to use his own daughter in his power games and landed himself a five-star room in a nuthouse.

That's how messed up that family was.

Maybe **'**dysfunctional**'** was the understatement of the century…

So why did it feel so normal for both Derek and Peter to stand in front of a laptop screen and berate Cora for her life choices all the way to another country? It felt like something family does. Like something they would have done had Kate not ruined everything for them when she killed most of their family, when she turned **'**weird and thrill-seeking Peter**'** to **'**psycho Peter**'** and Derek into a brooding mess who believed in nobody and nothing but himself.

Kate; she was the bane of everyone's existence. For the past few days, with Peter's frequent visits to the Argents' place, they had managed to keep the cattish she-wolf away from the loft. Hence away from Kaya. The entire pack had agreed that Kate would be bad influence on their young protégé and even Chris had eagerly agreed to keep her at bay. Just so they didn't look suspicious, they allowed Kate to visit only during the hours Kaya was at school or the girls kept her occupied. Derek even went as far as claiming he got a new, very human, girlfriend when the Argent female picked up on Kaya's smell on a disposed hoodie they had forgotten laying around.

But the whole hide and seek Peter and Derek had set up between her and Derek's new so-called girlfriend didn't sit well with Kate. She knew both those men and, mostly, she knew her brother. Chris kept an unusually close eye on her lately, which also said a lot. Either someone was after her and people didn't want to be involved in her drama as per usual or there was something they weren't letting her in on. Both options ticked her off the wrong way and she'd find out what was up, one way or another.

* * *

Kaya had just stepped out of the shower while Peter and Derek were on the balcony talking with someone she didn't care to know on Skype. She cursed herself for forgetting to pick up clothes to change into now that she lived with two grown men and ran her fingers through her wet hair carelessly. She was so cautious looking at their direction so that they didn't spot her walking around like that so she didn't even notice she wasn't alone…

**"**So you're the one they've been hiding from me...**"** Kate mused as she took deliberately slow steps towards the girl, an intimidation tactic that seemed to work on people as she had learnt over the years. And now that she really was a predator, the move fit perfectly with her true nature. She quickly took the girl's form in; gorgeous face, long dark hair, strong cheekbones, hazel eyes, endless legs —she fit Derek's type to the T if she was being honest. She all but snorted at the irony of a memory of a similar image of herself back in the time where she was the one occupying Derek's bed.

Kaya all but screamed when she saw the woman. Malia had told her she was Peter's biological daughter and looking at the woman in front of her all she could see was an older, and way sketchier version of Malia. Hands down, the woman was gorgeous but something felt off about her; maybe this was Malia's mother, the one everyone avoided talking about. **"**Okay, I swear; I am not sleeping with your husband.**"** Kaya said holding her hands up as much as she actually could so she wouldn't drop her towel. For the life of hers, she couldn't remember anyone mentioning Peter being married but the girls had mentioned Derek wasn't seeing anyone.

Kate laughed. **"**My _what_? Oh you young thing…**"** she mused raising an eyebrow and suddenly two very angry Hale men were standing on either side of the girl, Derek pushing the half-naked vixen behind him protectively while Peter growled at her. Oh so this is how it's going to be from now on… **"**Don't worry, I didn't bother Derek's new toy…**"** she held her hands up, but she didn't miss the lost expression on the girl's face. **"**But she's almost cute; thinking I'm married to _you_ of all people.**"** Kate told Peter and pretended to shudder in disgust.

Peter scoffed. **"**I have class.**"** he told Kaya over his shoulder, Derek still shielding her body from Kate's view. Kate wanted to gag at that. She wasn't a jealous ex-lover for crying out loud. True, she loved to pull Derek's leg with inappropriate remarks every now and then but they were long over and done with each other.

**"**She looks like Malia, so I thought…**"** she trailed off and Derek whispered the word **"**unknown**"** to her. Oh, right —kind of. That was certainly a memo she had missed.

**"**It's the hair, I think. I used to be a brunette in my younger days…**"** Kate said smirking and decided to taunt the boys. She took a seat on the leather sofa much to Derek's annoyance and he growled, still shielding the towel clad girl behind him. **"**Derek _really_ liked me then.**"** she winked and Peter sighed.

Kaya gave her an odd look when she felt Derek tense. Okay, she wasn't even touching how the woman obviously thought she and Derek had something going on. Well, okay, she'd think the same if she saw a nearly naked girl parading around in a guy's house. It was her turn to raise the bitch-brow, a super-extension of the eyebrow combined with one's best frosty expression. **"**I didn't know I moved into Cougar Town…**"** she said confidently, mostly for Derek's benefit, and felt him relax at her taunt towards the woman **"**but I don't see how that's my business**"**. The wolves had taught her respect but she expected to be shown some respect in return —and if that woman thought she could get her to cower into a corner because of some sassy remarks and a predatory strut then she was too damn wrong it wasn't even funny.

Peter laughed loudly. **"**Thank you!**"** he said pointing both hands towards her before turning to Kate. **"**See; she just met you and saw right through you. Amazing —Cougar Town.**"** he repeated laughing and Kate crossed her arms to her chest annoyed. This wasn't going the way she liked it.

**"**Careful there…**"** she started but Derek cut her off.

**"**Was that a threat, Kate?**"** he said tilting his head to the side, finally letting Kaya go from behind him. **"**Because I remember some very interesting clauses regarding your being here.**"** He threatened back as he moved towards her.

**"**You're Kate?**"** Kaya asked raising an eyebrow and the blonde nodded seemingly pleased with the fact that the kid had heard of her. **"**I've heard a lot about you. Nothing good though.**"** she added shrugging earning a look of approval from Peter and a growl from Kate.

**"**Kaya, darling, why don't you go put some clothes on? Fascinating sight as you may be, I don't think poor Derek's heart can take this for much longer…**"** Peter prompted half kidding and she breathed out relieved. Quickly she dragged one of her duffle bags with her and sent Peter a **'**thank you**'** smile for sending her away. No lie, she was comfortable with her body but standing almost naked in a room with two grown and handsome men wasn't exactly how she planned for her day to go.

Kate looked to see if the teenager had left. **"**Kaya as in Kaya Blake? I knew I recognized that scent…**"** she grinned absentmindedly but it was still that trademark grin of hers that made people fear for the worst. **"**That's your **'**very human girlfriend**'**?**"** Kate threw her head back laughing and the two men looked to each other confused with the situation. **"**This is so precious…**"**

**"**She's not my girlfriend.**"** Derek spat out but instantly hated how defensive he had sounded. **"**We just said that to keep you out of here.**"**

Kate pushed her lips together and nodded. **"**It was a good idea till it made me curious about her.**"** The woman admitted, which confused them even more. She thought that keeping Kaya from her was a good idea? Something was awfully wrong with that picture… **"**Careful boys, bad things are about to start happening…**"** she said cryptically and stood from her, strutting out of the loft before they could ask her anything more. But she was Kate Argent; even if they asked, she wouldn't really answer unless it was somehow in her benefit. And at that very moment, it wasn't. Not yet. **"**Soon enough I'm going to be the least of your problems. In fact you'll come crawling to me for help one of these days…**"**

With that she pulled the door behind her shut, leaving two very confused and worried werewolves behind her.


	5. Chapter 5

Derek had been avoiding her for three days straight, without a single reason. Not one she could put her finger on anyway.

It was exhausting; living in a house with someone but being constantly ignored.

She had tried everything to get his attention but nothing worked, not even walking around half naked —freeze frame here; actually that little stunt gave Peter a mini heart attack and got her grounded for the weekend. But Derek didn't even look at her; not even once. Nothing.

Freaking hell, Peter Hale had actually grounded her.

She had never been grounded before; sent to detention, hell, it was like a ritual for her to end up in there once a week. But no parent figure had ever grounded her. —Hell may freeze over for that idea alone. Malia had sent her a series of smiley faces when she texted her about it and was getting so frustrated with those texts that she wanted to scream. That was till Malia sent her one final text with four words that made her heart ache a little.

**'**You are family now.**'**

It was almost dawn when she realized that if Derek wanted to beat around the bush, he could go on with it forever. Only she didn't have the willpower to stay there with him if living in that house meant being like a damn ghost. She didn't even know if she had done something; had she offended him or anything?

Sure, she called Kate a cougar and that sort of reflected on him as well but he seemed to enjoy it when she told the blonde woman off. But after Kate left, Derek didn't look at her, talk to her or even acknowledge she was in the loft with them. Even Peter seemed to find it weird and unsettling. She pretended to roll in her sleep and peeked at him standing by the massive window looking out.

After being ignored once more, she had it up to there. **"**Did I do something?**"** she asked ready for a battle as she lifted herself on her elbows. Peter had retreated to his room upstairs after the first few days of her stay there so the couch was free, but Derek insisted she got his bed till they bought her one. Now she'd pretty much rather sleep on a literal bed of nails than being ignored like that. Deciding not jump head first into this, she took a deep breath and cooled it down a bit. **"**Because if I did something then you should know it wasn't intentional and I'm sorry.**"**

Derek let his head drop. He didn't need to turn around and look at her to know what her expression was like. He could smell her distress and fierceness at the same time, he knew how the angles of her face could cut like a sharp glass; and worst of all, he could feel her eyes burning holes into the back of his head. **"**You didn't do anything.**"** he confirmed quietly, choosing to focus on what his senses told him of her presence rather than see for himself.

It actually pained him to admit it but Kate had sadly been right; Kaya had a distinctive smell. So distinctive he wondered why he hadn't picked up on it earlier —it was a familiar scent yet still so foreign to him. He found himself dreading what her smell meant and how he couldn't place it next to anything he knew.

**"**Tell me about your mother.**"** He said abruptly. It wasn't a question or a plea, but it wasn't exactly an order either. He just wanted to know. That crazy idea that had crept up into his head and was stuck there for the last few days was making him paranoid. He had to know.

**"**I don't know what to say exactly...**"** Kaya said offering a questioning face while sitting up and pulled her knees to her chest. She didn't like talking about her mother; it made her feel naked and vulnerable, needing her make up to hide behind —or worse, needing someone to hold her. But she didn't go to him; she knew that much about respecting a wolf's personal space. **"**I don't remember her at all; if my dad hadn't told me otherwise, I'd think I never met her.**"** she said lamely. **"**My mom is —was— a memory in my dad's head and a punch-line kids like me, unwanted, get as a consolation price.**"**

She couldn't understand Derek's sudden need to know about her mother, but she wasn't going to deny him any of the answers she could offer. There weren't many of them anyway. But Derek had let her into his home, into his life, and he was willing to take on her battles as his own so she owed him that much.

**"**_Your mommy may not be here with us right now but she loves you very much_…**"** she quoted her father and choked out a laugh. It sounded way better coming from him when she was a kid. **"**The worst part of the whole joke was how he made promises on her behalf; that she'd come back for us one day. Beats the shit out me why I believed it then but, well, I'm here now so it's safe to say she never did.**"**

Derek finally looked at her over his shoulder. He could sense her distress but still she talked about it, he had to admire that. She was a brave little thing, stretching her own limits to accommodate his curiosity. **"**And your dad?**"** he knew he was pushing the envelope, but he had that theory and he had to know; was his weird idea right or wrong?

**"**Phil? He died like eleven years ago.**"** she shrugged as if didn't matter. **"**He was a cool guy from what I remember; a mix between Stiles' dad and Peter, if that's even possible.**"** Kaya laughed a little and Derek gave her a half smile acknowledging the odd combination of her statement. **"**It's why I'm so taken with your uncle.**"** she said and put a finger on her lips as if prompting him to keep it a secret. **"**He was probably a little younger than you are right now when he died. At 23, I guess it kind of sucks —both having a kid and dying." she looked down at her lap and when she raised her eyes again Derek was finally moving to sit on the foot of the bed. **"**I bet he'd do things differently if he could…**"**

**"**Nah…**"** Derek argued shaking his head. **"**I think your dad would do things just the same.**"** He gave her a small smile because, deep inside, he knew that what she meant when she said her dad would do it all differently was that she thought —or wished maybe— her dad would trade her for his life if not write her out of it completely. **"**No parent would give up his kid to save his ass, trust me.**"**

Kaya smiled, she knew something was troubling him but she didn't push and he still said something nice to her so maybe, just maybe, whatever problem he had wasn't with her. Maybe he was having some off days. **"**So— why do we hate Kate?**"** she asked and chuckled **"**sorry, that just rhymed...**"**

**"**I hate Kate.**"** he corrected, emphasizing the **'**I**'**. He didn't expect her to hate the people he hated or anything like that **"**Because she played me for a fool and took everything from me.**"** Derek said and looked at Kaya who watched him carefully. And now she expected more; why did he have to open his mouth? It was always the same with people; he gave them an inch, they asked for a mile. **"**I killed my first love.**"** he stated simply **"**And when I met Kate, I was naïve —hopeful that I'd get a second chance. You've seen Kate; she was gorgeous and at the time I found her funny, charming, charismatic; you know, a dumb 16-year-old's view of the older girl who takes an interest in him when he expected her to go for his better looking uncle.**"** he admitted chuckling.

**"**Kate and Peter —after watching them together; yeah, no, they'd kill each other rather than make freakishly attractive babies**"** she shook her head smirking and Derek messed her hair a little for that joke without thinking about it all that much. Maybe she just wanted a couple more inches instead of the whole ten yards.

He moved up the bed a little and rested on his elbow next to her, looking at her closely. **"**Kate was exactly what I thought I needed at the time.**"** he admitted with half a heart **"**But she was a hunter and everything was a plan of hers to get close to my family and destroy us. That burnt down house of ours you saw in ruins? That was her doing —she burnt my family alive in that house, Kaya.**"** Derek looked at her to find her holding her breath, she looked shocked at the cruelty but she didn't look at him with pity which was odd. People tended to show pity which in turn gave him a chance to lash out. **"**I was at school when it happened… Peter —he was burnt severely all over his face and body, he was in a vegetable state for years, slowly losing his mind too.**"** For the first time, Derek defended Peter out loud; he actually acknowledged what that fire had done to him. **"**Everyone was— my mother was burnt alive in that house…**"**

Kaya didn't speak, she just looked at him. When she met Kate she was envious of all that confidence the woman gave off but she knew there was something terribly wrong about her; now she knew what. And she wished she didn't. The woman was clearly twisted. How could a person do that to another, take a life in such a cruel way?

**"**A while back, we thought she was dead, you know; and we were too damn happy about it.**"** he chuckled. **"**Peter clawed her throat out and for like a year, we were rid of her, but she came back…**"**

**"**The claws turned her**"** she said softly, understanding how the turn worked, and Derek nodded.

**"**She's a were-jaguar now; we didn't even think that was possible…**"** Derek mumbled not feeling right talking about Kate Argent. **"**Just —do us all a favor and be careful around her.**"** He tried to stop himself but the words were already flowing out of his lips; he had this need to protect her from the woman he considered poison. **"**She knows things about you. And when Kate knows more than the rest of us, it never ends well…**"**

* * *

**"**Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't.**"** Chris said leaning against the kitchen door watching Kate stare into nothing. It was a look he learnt to fear on her. **"**Please.**"**

**"**I'm not planning anything, Chris.**"** she said as honestly as she possibly could while looking at her brother in the eye. **"**I swear. I just didn't expect this turn of events...**"** she sighed resting her chin on her palm.

**"**Nobody could ever know…**"** he agreed and walked closer to her, a more affectionate expression taking residence on his face in an effort to make his little sister feel a bit better. Despite her crimes, she was still his little sister, she'd always be. **"**Not you, not me. Not even dad.**"**

**"**I was always so stuck in my own head that I never told you how sorry I am…**"** she said quietly and reached for her brother's hand. **"**—about Allison. I always loved that kid as if she was mine. I miss her.**"**

**"**Yeah, me too…**"** he said squeezing her hand a little. He knew Kate was honest about this; because despite all her faults and obsessions, Kate loved Allison as much as his daughter had loved her. He knew Allison's loss pained Kate as much as Kate's had pained his daughter. They had once been each other's best friend. **"**We'll make it right, Kate.**"** Chris said and she smiled. **"**Go get some sleep.**"**

* * *

Be careful what you wish for, people say…

School was boring her to death. Usually that was her cue to get a hobby and the coach had actually invited her and Malia to run track but they had both declined the offer. Malia for obvious reasons of course, while she just didn't want to have one of her strengths out in the open. If people knew she ran —fast— they'd expect her to do so and find reasons to stop her if they were to chase her. Or maybe she was being paranoid, but then again she had every right to be weird about such stuff.

She was being chased for years now and she always escaped, she had every right to be afraid of her own shadow at times.

Stiles often made fun of her for looking for exits when they first entered a room, but sometimes, he admitted, they all did the same. It was kind of a survival instinct for her; knowing how to get in or out, how to escape if chased, where to hit an opponent if it ever came to that. They all had that; those with claws had them, Kira had a sword, Lydia screamed, Stiles had a baseball bat and Kaya —she was yet to pick a weapon of choice.

To everyone's surprise Kate had slipped her a pepper spray till she was up for a battle plan.

Even Peter was impressed.

* * *

For seventeen years he looked for her and he found her twice; her hiding place at least. Her, in flesh and blood, he was yet to find. One of his men had wondered how he would recognize her if he ever found her. He laughed cynically, he'd always recognize her. **"**She belongs to me, I'll know it when I see her**"** he responded before slashing the man's throat from one side to the other as to set an example.

He never took well to being questioned.

Phil had questioned him more than anyone; he had questioned and defied him to no end. But he had been patient with the young man, forgiven his arrogance because he saw him as a victim of that serpent. He could have made Phil great had he not chosen to betray him for someone to roll in the sheets with —and that girl was such a highly skilled manipulator that she even gave him a child to prove her fake honesty. If he didn't hate the female so much, he would have admired her conniving nature. But she had forced his hand into doing things he later regretted doing; it was all her fault, he insisted.

He'd never admit it was his fault, not even if that was going to save his life.

Eleven years ago he thought he had them. One of the women in his group had spotted Phil in a small town in Colorado, shopping for Kaya. He had dyed his raven colored hair blond so he wouldn't be spotted as easily but everyone on his payroll know what Phil looked like. He and a group of his best people had followed him to a cabin in the old camping spot by the woods, oh poor Phil —so predictable, always remained faithful to the old principles and stayed by nature. It was one of the things that made him easy to find; easy, that was a joke.

It took his people six impossible years to find him; the boy was good, he'd give him that, he had skills. But he made mistakes, his grave one was crossing him —ignoring his commands and not delivering the child to him. Phil had had the delusion he'd get to raise his own child just because she was his. Well he'd never get to; he wouldn't allow it. He lost an eye, Phil would lose his child.

With his men surrounding them, the two men battled with never-ending rage. He was impressed, almost proud of the skills the boy had developed over the years he spent on his own. But he wasn't a boy anymore, he was a grown man now and he had fathered a child; a child that he craved to see more than he craved life and it was nowhere to be seen. His men had looked all over, but Kaya wasn't there. Phil had laughed, taunted him that the kid was sent away and safe, that he would never find her. His anger was boiling, he lost control and just like that he snapped Phil's neck and made him one with a tree, branches piercing right through him.

Till he was eventually one with the tree.

The same tree whose branches were hiding his daughter.

* * *

Lydia sighed bored as she linked her arm through Malia's; the progress in the relationship between the two was startling. Kira and the boys had lacrosse practice and the strawberry blonde girl was desperate to find something for them to do in the mean time. Scott had invited them to watch but Malia was trying to avoid the coach and his crazy yelling; he made her jumpy.

**"**Why don't you girls go buy something?**"** Stiles shrugged and Liam gagged a bit as they got to the parking lot, stopping by Scott's bike.

Kaya shook her head but her gaze focused on a couple standing a few feet away from them, watching intently in their direction. She had seen them before, earlier that morning. They had to be watching her.

**"**Um guys…**"** she started moving next to Scott who had his back to them and linked her arm through his elbow, clutching it tightly for support. Their entire group looked at her oddly; she and Scott were quite friendly with each other but not exactly touchy like she was with Liam. **"**There's a couple behind us, I saw them again earlier today. I think their watching me.**"** she stammered and everyone tensed.

**"**What do we do?**"** Stiles asked as he started hyperventilating.

**"**I'll claw their throats out.**"** Liam growled and his claws came out but Kira and Malia held him back and shielded him from view. He growled again and Lydia eventually took action stomping her heeled foot on his to get his attention. The boy growled a bit and pouted as his face returned to normal and the rest of them relaxed.

**"**Pretend you admire the bike.**"** Scott told her and she did as told, pulling away from him while running a finger across the handles, admiring things she didn't know how to name. Admittedly she liked bikes; she knew absolutely nothing about them but she liked watching them speed away. **"**Give me a smile, come on.**"** Scott urged her with a bright smile of his own and suddenly she knew what he was doing, he was hatching an escape plan. Kaya smiled at him a bit more relieved and when Scott got on his bike and extended a hand to her she gladly took it, getting on the bike behind him.

—She liked bikes, the feeling of wind on her face.

**"**Cover me to the coach, will you?**"** Scott instructed Liam and Stiles and passed Kaya his helmet. If anything happened, he was an Alpha he wouldn't get hurt no matter what. But Kaya, she was human; if they lost control she'd get hurt or even die. As soon as she wrapped her arms around his waist, Scott nodded his goodbye to the rest of the group. Bringing the bike to life he looked at the rearview mirror towards the stalkers and smirked leaving them behind, full speed.

Stiles took his phone out in a hurry and dialed a familiar number; the number of a grumpy man that wouldn't be remotely happy to hear about this. **"**Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.**"** he said still hyperventilating and Liam face palmed. "Wrong quote, shit! Houston, we've got a problem…**"**

* * *

He hadn't been that excited about something in years, not since killing Phil anyway. This was the moment he had been waiting for.

**"**We found her.**"** The voice announced at the other end of the line.

**"**Where is she?**"** he asked a bit impatient.

**"**Beacon Hills.**"** the female said and he grinned and thought of the Nemeton; it had to be. It was calling to her, this was destiny. **"**There's something more, sir. The people she's with —we've identified them as…**"**

**"**Werewolves.**"** He growled. Kaya had a way of frustrating him and they hadn't even met, let alone spoken to each other. It didn't matter; he'd take care of them too in due time… And then he'd get that bitch of the mother that girl had and send her to hell once and for all. Then everything would belong to him; Kaya and the Nemeton.

* * *

She downed the amber liquor without flinching; it didn't burn her throat anymore. The old craphole people insisted to call a bar was always poorly lit, but that was always why she preferred it when she made business transactions; this was one of them. She didn't count it as anything more —she knew how dangerous it would be if she did. No, she had nothing in common with that girl; she was only doing this for Phil. Poor Phil she had loved and despite what she even told herself, maternal instincts were hard to get rid of.

**"**Two of his people found her today.**"** A woman in her early forties told her, her gaze locked with the wall behind the bartender and a couple of empty stools between them. **"**She's all grown up now; very pretty.**"**

**"**I know.**"** She smirked and beckoned the bartender over for another drink. **"**I appreciate this; risking your life for me all these years.**"** she told the older woman sliding a package towards her. **"**A little souvenir for you, something from my last trip out of the country.**"**

The woman quickly put it in her purse, not bothering to open it. Their exchanges were always clean and honest; she had no reason to doubt her. For the past seventeen years she would keep the younger woman updated on their progress when it came to finding Kaya so she'd warn whoever it was she warned and in return the young mother supplied her with information about those who were after her people and little treats that were hard to find —even for people like her.

She finished her drink in a swift movement. **"**He wants your daughter to get to you. You know that, right?**"** the woman prompted as she stood from her seat. **"**What you and Phil did, it's not her fault. Don't let that kid pay for your sins…**"**

She watched the woman leave and twirled her glass around in her hand.

It was tempting; to just pack her bags and run once again, leave the crazy old man take it up with Kaya and her new wolf pack. But she spent years doing that; running. She watched from a distance as her own kid had been raised by others, she even beat the hell out of some of her foster parents for mistreating her, but she never moved close to her. She always protected her from a distance; because the ugly truth of it was that she was nowhere near being fit for motherhood. Throwing her head back she downed the contexts of the glass and mumbled to herself.

**"**I'm not planning to…**"**

* * *

**A/N: I'll admit, writing the mystery characters is something I reeeeally like.**

**Let me know what you think, lovelies!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: No joke, will update for Reviews. So, morality aside, bribe me! :P**

* * *

They hadn't talked about the stalking incident in the week since it happened —Kaya absolutely refused to, banned the subject from even being a thought in people's heads, and pretended it never happened.

Or she would have if the others would let her.

The pack was practically taking shifts at smothering the sanity out of her bit by boring bit, also known as watching over her; Scott and Liam at school, Peter and Derek at home, Kira and Malia during their free time. Lydia and Stiles, the breakable ones, just patted her back understandingly whenever she felt like snapping at her self-appointed bodyguards and making a run for it. In all honesty, she was somewhat expecting this to happen —being found that is— but in her usual fashion, she had planned to run like hell till they lost her again. Only the pack wouldn't let her do that either.

But not for the lack of trying.

Peter and Kate had each given her a disappointed **'**I'm judging you and your life choices**'** look as they waited for her, arms crossed, outside the door when she tried to sneak out one night and Derek had shaken his head in disapproval and emptied her bags for her again. The silent treatment was actually worse than the pep-talk the two adults had given her; sometimes she wondered if those two only teamed up to judge someone's lifestyle. It didn't seem unlikely —it was actually possible, way too possible. Nope, yeah, she was sure of it.

That Friday, Scott and Stiles had managed to somehow get themselves stuck in detention for doing who-knows-what so, like the good friends they all were, the rest of the group decided to wait for them and camped out in the middle of the football field. The girls had been talking about relationships since first period and they had sort of taken it upon themselves to educate Liam and Mason on the works of the female mind.

Those poor boys didn't even know what hit them…

**"**Sexual attraction has a very peculiar course...**"** Lydia said with her usual scientific tone that she hadn't really let go off since she started using it in public.

**"**It can be found in centuries of pop culture and explained with all sorts of psychological terms, yet it's a chemical reaction produced by our brain and hormones.**"** Kaya added in an equally preppy tone.

**"**Whatever. When you're in love it shows even on your face…**"** Liam said feeling bored already.

**"**And so it does when you're not!**"** Mason pitched in and the girls nodded.

**"**According to British scientists, attraction and love decrease the functional capacity of the brain cells associated with our critical thinking when it comes to others —as well as reducing negative thinking.**"** Lydia pinched Liam's nose and he sneezed.

**"**We have some sort of blind spot when it comes to people we love, whether we know it or not, and we use less of the part of our brain that controls negative judgment but also there is more activity in the brain section that controls rewarding.**"** Kira leaned back on her elbows.

**"**Scientists say that the whole crazy attraction stage lasts for a year cause that's how long it takes for the chemicals responsible for euphoria in our brain to get back to normal levels.**"** Mason added, casually throwing his two cents in the conversation while Liam just nodded every now and then to prove he was listening though not exactly understanding what was said or what it meant.

**"**But I'm still in love with Scott like that.**"** Kira protested a bit.

**"**Love is like a drug, Foxy, and I'm actually being literal here. It's been proven that when we fall in love our brain has the same chemical reaction to the one it has to using and being addicted to cocaine; euphoria, hyperactivity —all while losing sleep and appetite. And all that because when we're in love our brain produces huge amounts of dopamine, hence activating inner mechanisms responsible for joy, happiness and addiction.**"** Kaya explained.

Liam face palmed. **"**You girls take the fun out of everything with your stupid science studies and explanations. Why are we even doing this?**"**

The weirdly silent that day Malia shrugged. **"**We're just having a scientific trash talk…**"**

**"**True. Have you ever wondered why we fall in love with the most wrong people for us?**"** Mason asked with a deep sigh.

**"**Because that person represents the most suppressed part of ourselves, that's why. The whole **'**opposites attract**'** is a cliché only serving to make us feel better about the things we don't want to admit about ourselves. We project parts of ourselves on the person we're seeing.**"** Lydia answered. **"**People tend to fall for people with whom they are on similar levels of diversity yet on different levels of defense, character or attitude.**"**

That seemed to catch Liam's attention. **"**Then why would someone stay in a relationship that's more of a nightmare than anything else?**"**

**"**Other than being a glutton for punishment, you mean? Because, cuddle bear, it's actually easier to blame our faults and sorrows on our partner than look into the problem and really grasp the cause of it.**"** Kaya said as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

**"**See that's why guys don't get you girls…**"** he said crossing his arms huffing at the fact that only girls could actually have this sort of conversation out of boredom.

**"**People are very complex and multifarious creatures.**"** Lydia tossed her hair back.

**"**What does that mean?**"** Malia whispered not really understanding every word that came out of Lydia's mouth. It was nothing new to her; it actually happened half the time they were together. It happened a lot less than it did last year, but still…

**"**It means we have many and varied aspects as personalities.**"** Kira explained.

**"**Lydia's a walking example of that one then…**"** Malia mumbled almost making a **'**duh**'** face to go with her statement.

**"**Me? Why?**"** the strawberry blonde girl asked. She was a bit curious when it came to Malia's train of thought on this; but maybe it was just her ego, waiting to see what her friends thought when they said she had a complicated personality. At least when it came to relationships that is.

Everyone snorted. **"**Cause when you're single you want a boyfriend. And when you have a boyfriend you literally crave your independence.**"** Kira said shrugging and Lydia chuckled, silently admitting the truth of Kira's words while Kaya just smiled. 

* * *

Chris and Kate were in the loft with Peter and Derek when Stiles dropped her off after he was done with detention. She had expected World War Three or some sort of disaster when she realized it but nothing seemed different in the loft; there weren't any broken furniture or severed limbs hanging from the ceiling which usually was a good sign in her books…

She suspected it had something to do with the blue-eyed Argent.

She liked Chris; he was the cool older guy she wouldn't mind hanging out with and he had that **'**father material**'** air about him from the moment they were introduced. Kira had warned her not to bring up the paternal air the Argent hunter gave off because of what happened to his daughter.

—The day after she met Chris Argent was actually the first time she heard of Allison Argent and her tragically heroic death. Kira told her she was Scott's old girlfriend and Lydia's best friend who she was killed by an Oni going to Lydia's rescue; she learnt Chris and Scott had to lie to the police to cover up the entire thing, even though the Sherriff knew the truth.

But the rest of the town didn't need to know…

**"**Hey, Derek, do you think you deserve having what you want in life?**"** Kaya asked after a while of leaving them be. She was lying on her stomach on his bed as she flipped through the pages of a book she didn't really care about just to give them some space but she was rather bored of being ignored.

Everyone in the room froze in their spot for a second.

**"**I don't know.**"** Derek said evenly, almost emotionlessly, and lifted his eyes from the table the three men were using as a work station. His gaze briefly moved to her before looking at Chris and Peter for help —they didn't seem willing to offer it.

**"**How come you're not sure? I mean; isn't that like you're actually stopping yourself from getting the things you want?**"** she insisted. It was an ambivalent quality of hers; being stubborn, not knowing when to let something drop.

Peter snorted a bit but Derek glared at him. **"**When you put it like that it's —it's unnervingly close to home. But I'm tired of thinking about stuff like that, you know…**"** Chris punched him lightly from across the table so he sighed and continued. **"**However, when my mind is set on something, the rest of the world is just noise.**"**

Kate snorted; she had stayed silent for a long time as it was. **"**It's safe to say people around you have noticed that much. Multiple times …**"**

Kaya's attention turned to the blonde sitting on the leather couch, now being glared by the three males in the room. The animosity was so thick one could cut through it with a knife…

**"**Hey, Kate, you're single right?**"** she asked smiling slyly.

Kate sighed. **"**Where are you going with this?**"** the older woman asked curiously rather than replying and put the shotgun she had been polishing the whole time down next to her.

**"**Say, you meet two guys —late thirties, early forties; one's divorced and the other's some kind of a bachelor. Who would you go for?**"** the teenager asked eagerly.

Kate thought about it for a few seconds and the men suddenly developed a newfound interest in the conversation. There was a time in her life she wouldn't hesitate to answer a question like this, hypothetical as it was, but she wasn't twenty anymore. Things changed and she had changed too. **"**The divorcee obviously. Why?**"**

**"**Just proving a point here.**"** she waved her hand dismissively but sighed when she realized everyone in the room was staring at her, waiting for an explanation. **"**We were talking about relationships earlier; how in order to know where your relationship is heading, you have to know more about the guy's family status. How much he values the single life, how his family is; stuff about his parents, whether he still lives with them or not...**"**

**"**True. But women don't always care about that.**"** Kate said leaning forward, elbows on her knees, now having decided the conversation was of interest and feeling in the mood to humor the girl and maybe pay her civic duty by offering a few hints.

**"**Women with high self esteem don't always love the men who love them.**"** Chris pitched in and Derek patted him on the back in recognition of a brilliantly put statement.

**"**Oh, brother, we sure as hell don't love those who don't love us to begin with...**"** Kate chuckled and Kaya nodded vigorously in agreement.

**"**You, girls, ask for too much way too fast. You want the world but hardly ever give anything back.**"** Derek said and Peter snorted his agreement.

**"**You just described every female in the world. Tell me something new…" the elder werewolf said and the girls faked gagging.

**"**You know what?**"** Kate said and moved across the room to sit on the bed with Kaya **"**I should get a boyfriend and a lover. If one dumps me, I'll have the other. And if they both dump me…**"**

**"**You'll claw their poor hearts out.**"** Peter sighed sarcastically and Kate glared at him.

**"**If they both dump you we'll have a girls' night with tons of trash talk and chocolate.**"** Kaya said and shrugged. Kate smiled almost affectionately at her.

Chris chuckled. Derek sighed. Peter face palmed.

**"**I think you two, cheeky ladies, played together enough for one day.**"** Peter said walking up to where Kate was sitting and lifted her by the upper arms with ease to a standing position before he started pulling her out of the loft with him.

**"**Don't make me revoke your play-date rights, kids.**"** Chris warned humorously. Turning to Derek he grinned. **"**Sometimes I worry for yours and Kaya's sanity around here…**"**

**"**I heard that!**"** Peter called out from the staircase a couple of feet from the door.

**"**I meant you to!**"** Chris yelled back and Kaya fell back into the bed laughing hysterically. Derek shook his head trying not to join in as Chris pulled a mock serious face like the one Peter pulled often and Kaya laughed even harder.

Sometimes life was good —even with old enemies lurking somewhere in the picture. 

* * *

The last time Derek heard female screams in the middle of the night, he was 15 and it was Cora who screamed while having a nightmare. For a second he refused to open his eyes thinking this was his mind playing tricks on him. But Cora was across the country and unless Peter suddenly became a girl there was no way a female was screaming in his—

Before he had the time to finish that thought another scream practically froze him to the core; Kaya.

This was real.

Derek jumped off his bed and blindly moved towards the wall opening in the loft. Finally that torn apart wall had come in handy; he had set up an entire bedroom for Kaya back there, to give the girl some privacy in what was almost a frat house. He didn't mind having a bed in the middle of the living room, but he was a guy and he couldn't care less if someone walked in to find him half naked, but that girl deserved some privacy and a space to call her own.

He didn't pay attention to the rest of the loft he just went straight for the ruined wall. And found nothing behind it.

**"**Kaya!**"** Derek yelled hoping for a reaction but instead it was Peter's voice he heard calling his name. Cold sweat washed over him —the tone of voice Peter used, it sounded as if he was afraid too. And never in his life had he seen Peter Hale being afraid, not even when they were in hostile territory fighting for their lives. That alone scared him even more.

He took slow steps back to the main room and noticed Peter standing at the bottom of the staircase. He looked ahead of him intently, eyes wide, hand holding on the railing tightly. **"**Nice and easy, Derek…**"** Peter instructed calmly but Derek could hear the small shake in his voice. He was unnerved by the sight in front of him.

And so was Derek. 

* * *

Kaya hadn't seen dreams like this in a while. She hadn't dreamt of him in a while.

_A little was sitting with her legs crossed on her bed. "__**A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds. And when the weeds begin to grow, it's like a garden full of snow.**__" the little girl recited holding the book wide open, even though she wasn't looking at it. Her eyes were too black to see and she seemed to know the little rhyme by heart anyway. "__**And when the snow begins to fall, it's like a bird upon the wall.**__" the child's voice deepened and she looked towards the open window by the bed. A flock of birds suddenly flew in —black crows, a true murder of them. "__**And when the bird away does fly, it's like an eagle in the sky.**__" the crows filled the room, every corner of it, flapping their wings, some even sitting close to her for a second but none of them tried to hurt her._

_"__**And when the sky begins to roar, it's like a lion at the door**__." she turned her head towards the door to see a male figure watching, though she had been well aware of his presence there the whole time. "__**And when the door begins to crack, it's like a stick across your back.**__" the voice became more feminine again, it almost sounded like hers —normal Kaya's, not the child version's of her as she came to realize. "__**And when your back begins to smart, it's like a penknife in your heart.**__" she stared back at the wall ahead of her. The voice changed again, to that of the little girl. "__**And when your heart begins to bleed..you're dead, and dead, and dead indeed.**__" she said turning to look at the man with a sadistic smile on her face and with a twitch of her hand, the crows flew towards the man ready to attack._

_The young man watched the girl from the doorway, not sure whether he was admiring the power she held over nature's creatures or being afraid of it —of her. The girl smiled a sinister smile and stood from the bed walking towards him. The crows, previously forming a living wall between the two, slowly parted as she walked up to him; they were her plaything, her own army ready to obey her. __**"**__I thought you'd like to play a game with me, daddy.__**"**__ she said tilting her head to the side as her eyes turned into bright golden shade. With a twitch of her hand the crows surrounded the man's body like a cocoon and flapped their wings against his skin and he screamed in pain._

**_"_**_Be good now, my babies.__**"**__ The little girl's voice purred and the birds retreated to reveal small bite marks and wounds on man's porcelain skin. __**"**__But you used to love playing games…__**"**__ she said in a deep male voice that sounded so wrong coming from her and ran the back of her hand over the man's hand. __**"**__Isn't that right?__**"**__ she taunted and took a few steps back. She smiled sadistically but it wasn't her smile._

_An old man's silhouette came into view and the girl smirked. The younger man looked horrified and, fast on his feet; he pulled the little behind him. To protect her. The older man, the man with one eye laughed. __**"**__You can keep her from me physically. But your energies will always call me to you, Phil.__**"**__ the creepy man said._

**_"_**_This is the closest you'll ever get to her then.__**"**__ Phil said; his chin held high while some blood from the wounds the crows inflicted tickled down his face._

**_"_**_We'll see about that, boy.__**" **__The older man said and everything went black._

* * *

Derek took small steps towards Kaya and Peter did the same.

He wondered what was going through her head that very moment, what was pushing her to this. **"**I think she's dreaming…**"** Derek whispered and Peter nodded in agreement; this had to be it, she was having no reaction to them. It was as if she wasn't in the same room as them and though her eyes were open she seemed to be hurled into some dreaming state; a state that forced her hand and raped her mind.

The image pained Derek in a weird way; she was only 17 years old, too young to be like this. Chased, broken, alone. He knew the feeling too well. But seeing her stand there, in front of his window with a kitchen knife in her hand was a rude awakening to how little he knew about her life and the people threatening it. Small drops of her blood ran down from the knife and hit the floor. A couple more steps…

Peter extended his hand slowly and touched the back of the knife. Derek held his breath as he watched his, currently very pale with worry, uncle gently pull the knife out of her hand. She didn't seem to regard Peter's presence but she slowly let the blade be pulled from her grasp. Both werewolves let out a breath and Peter tossed the knife away and it landed behind the staircase. Taking a bold step forward, Derek put his hand on her other wrist and softly pulled it away from the massive glass window. Slowly he put his other arm around her waist and pulled her away and to the direction of his bed. He was sure the blood had stopped coursing through his veins as he held her; be it the terror or the slightest bit of relief for getting to her in time.

Or maybe it was the fact that he was absolutely powerless to do something about what was happening to her…

She was dead to the world within seconds after hitting the pillow and it was only then that he finally breathed again; when he could hear her heartbeat slow down and her breathing find a pace of its own. Derek just watched her, inspecting her bloody wrist as Peter approached him with a small medical kit he sometimes forgot they owned in hand. The older man took care of Kaya's wounds and Derek watched him, knees to his chest and eyes filled with worry. **"**We should keep an eye on her.**"**

**"**I'll start the coffee.**"** Peter agreed in a heartbeat moving towards the kitchen but stopped in front of the window and sighed. **"**What does this mean?**"** he mumbled shaking his head and left.

Derek lifted his eyes to the floor-to-ceiling window and Kaya's creation on it. He wondered what it meant too. What forced her hand to do it —maybe it was the thing she was dreaming about. Maybe it was something else… For now there were two things he knew for sure; one, they had to keep a closer eye on her.

And, two, there was a massive **_W_** written in her blood on his window.


	7. Chapter 7

She had found Lydia and Malia waiting for her by her locker in the morning. It was their usual drill; ambushing each other bright and early every morning. Just to get the day started and last night's news out of the way; and, somehow, there were always news to share.

**"**Something weird happened this morning.**"** Kaya told the girls as she rearranged books in and out of the little steel box Beacon Hills High chose to call the perfect-sized locker. **"**Or rather last night; I'm not exactly sure.**"**

**"**What?**"** Lydia asked, always ready to solve a problem.

**"**Well, I have the strangest dreams, which is old news to me, but last night I fell asleep in my own bed —and today I woke up in Derek's.**"** Kaya said shutting the locker with force since the thing was a junk to begin with. She leaned her back against it and folded her arms to her chest. **"**And he was there too.**"**

Malia grinned. **"**We were kind of placing bets on when this would happen...**"** Lydia nodded.

What? Kaya glared at them. Seriously! Whose side were they on? Nope, no need to have that answered. She sighed. **"**Peter was there too.**"**

The girls' smiles fell as quickly as they appeared and they shuddered. Both Derek and Peter; this was getting way too freaky way too fast. It wasn't even noon yet, nowhere near there...

**"**Ew, no, not like that!" Kaya exclaimed feeling slightly awkward. **"**Get your minds out of the gutter, you two!**"**

**"**You're the one who woke up in bed with both Hale men...**"** Lydia shrugged casually. She seemed to be thinking of something for a couple of seconds before adding off-handedly. **"**I don't know though; Peter's a good kisser...**"**

Kaya eyed her sideways feeling a little weird that Lydia possessed that knowledge. Sure, Peter was hot; she had ogled him too when she first saw him, but she'd never go there. He was like family to her now and knowing he had skills in the kissing department was a little too much information.

**"**And he's also my dad, thanks for the visual.**"** Malia complained grossed by the idea. She didn't need to know about her dad getting all _friendly_ with her friend. Or why he even went there with her in the first place. Gross, she and Lydia were the same age!

**"**Can we focus on the issue, please?**"** Kaya sighed annoyed they had somehow strayed from the topic. **"**Waking up with them wasn't exactly the weirdest part. There was a huge red **'W'** painted on the window. And then there's this.**"** She lifted her right hand to show them her bandaged wrist. She hadn't dared to open it; she was worried about what she might have to see there. But the damned thing hurt like hell every time she flexed her hand or even moved her arm in total.

Gut feeling; the little artwork on the loft's window was her creation. Her brain sighed, she didn't know how that was possible but it did. She heard it. That or she was just going mental. —Awesome.

**"**Did you open it?**"** Lydia asked, lips a bit open. She shook her head no.

**"**Then what are we still waiting for?**"** Malia asked and both girls pulled her towards the bathroom.

**"**I feel like your personal freak show.**"** she protested as the door slammed behind them and Lydia checked if any of the stools was occupied. They didn't need an audience for this kind of stuff. Ever.

**"**You'll get over it.**"** Malia shrugged opening the bandage.** "**Wow...**" **the blonde paused and tilted her head to observe the mark a little better.

**"**Or not...**"** Lydia corrected looking at the W shaped scars on the brunette's wrist. She took her phone out and snapped a photo of it. **"**Stiles.**"** she mumbled in explanation with a shrug when the others looked at her oddly.

**"**Maybe we should mail one to US Weekly as well.**"** Kaya snapped sarcastically as she tried to fix the bandage back in place and tagged on her sleeves to cover herself all the way to her knuckles. She hadn't pulled that move in the last couple of years, but here she was again. It was what she did best; cover her scars. Under a piece of clothing, a smile, a thick layer of eyeliner. She'd do anything to cover up her misfortunes and sorrows.

**"**No one will care.**"** Lydia dismissed her quickly, no sign of caring about her friend's sarcasm. **"**You're not famous.**"**

Kaya gave her a challenging look; had she been a cartoon, there would have been a bubble over her head quoting **'**bitch, I might be**'**. Lydia smirked knowingly.

* * *

**"**You're half way to Canada already.**"** Peter said with a hint of irony.

Derek had been pacing up and down since they woke up to find Kaya gone. Thankfully, unlike the younger man, his brain was actually functioning enough to check with the kids about their protégé's whereabouts before he went into a full-blown panic mode.

Derek glared at his uncle. **"**Am I the only one with a functioning brain here?**"** he threw his hands in the air. **"**None of you sees it? Really?**"**

**"**Spare a clue, Nancy Drew**"** Peter replied slightly bored. **"**What is it that you think I'm missing?**"**

Derek was ready to pull his hair out. He was going nuts since he first heard her name, yet nobody seemed to notice. **"**Blake, Peter! Her last name is Blake!**"** he exclaimed. **"**As in Jennifer Blake.**"**

**"**Oh please!**"** Peter waved him off without even taking a second to consider it as an option. **"**Just because Talia gave you our family name instead of your father's doesn't mean the whole country does that.**"**

**"**My father we'll talk about another day, you and I.**"** Derek pointed his finger to Peter. His dad was a sore subject; or rather he was never a subject to begin with. Not when Talia was alive and certainly not since her death. **"**Kaya though? Let's say you're right and I'm wrong; she's not related to Jennifer in any way. Kate still knew who she was.**"** he was a few seconds away from starting banging Peter's head against the brick wall. **"**Kate knowing things we don't means we're in trouble. It always does and you know it.**"**

**"**Relax. You'll be the first werewolf with a brain damage if you keep this up.**"** Peter said, elbows resting on his knees as he leaned forward. **"**Need I remind you that I am just as devious —if not more— than Kate Argent will ever be?**"**

Yeah, that one was a little hard to forget. When Peter was against them, it meant hell, but when he was on their side his viciousness was an ace up their sleeve. **"**You're one step ahead of me again, aren't you?**"** Derek sighed and Peter smirked. Of course he was; Peter Hale had practically invented deviousness.

**"**Unless I've suddenly gotten a brain tumor big enough as to develop a boy crush on our resident jaguar-bitch, I don't see why I'm spending all my time running circles around her…**"** Peter explained **"**Whatever it is she knows, I'm not going to count on Chris Argent's good will to rat his sister out to us.**"**

Derek nodded. Sometimes he felt thankful that Peter was somewhat of an evil mastermind.

* * *

**"**She's not healing so she's not a werewolf.**"** Malia argued heatedly.

**"**She's something!**"** Stiles exclaimed, a throwback to his what-is-Lydia days. Lydia snorted feeling the déjà-vu biting hard on her behind.

**"**Yeah I am. Sitting right here actually.**"** Kaya said waving her hands so people would stop talking about her as if she wasn't there. Kira put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed a little to show her support.

**"**Maybe we should get her to Deaton...**"** Scott suggested looking to Derek for confirmation. He was the Alpha, sure, but he was still an uncertain teen as well and for as long as Derek was around, he's look to him for support and advice. Peter nodded to his agreement; that had to count for something since the man never agreed with him. Ever.

**"**Deaton, as in your boss? He's a vet.**"** The girl in question raised an eyebrow, some offense taken due to the suggestion but she was ignored.

**"**Maybe she's just stressed...**"** Liam said a bit uncertain and Kaya smiled at him thankfully. The younger boy seemed to be the only one unwilling to fit her in a supernatural-themed box.

**"**Stressed people don't slice up their wrists to play Bob Ross on windows in the middle of the night.**"** Stiles huffed and Liam looked at him questioningly.

**"**Well, what are the options?**"** Lydia asked taking a notebook out of her bag.

**"**Banshee**"** Kira suggested unsure and Lydia started taking notes.

**"**Druid?**"** Peter suggested with half a heart.

**"**Some sort of spirit...**"** Stiles waved his hands around.

**"**We should ask Chris or Kate about those...**"** Malia shrugged and Lydia noted the Argent name down next to the **'**spirit**'** suggestion.

**"**Maybe she's psychic.**"** Scott said just to pitch in.

Everyone turned to focus on Derek, who hadn't voiced an opinion yet. He sat on the lower steps of the stairs, a bit distant from them, and his eyes were trained on the stressed brunette in question. He could hear her heart beat like crazy, he could tell she regretted going to school in the morning.

**"**Derek?**"** Kira prompted and he shrugged.

**"**Derek was worried that Kaya may be Jennifer Blake's daughter.**"** Peter said as if it was already common knowledge and everyone froze in their spot.

Judging from the look on everyone's face, it was nasty. **"**I'll bite; who's Jennifer Blake?**"** Kaya asked slowly, having caught onto the fact that she was the only one who had no idea what they were on about and the crew wasn't willing to share. Her eyes turned to Derek who averted his.

**"**She was Derek's _second_ psychotic girlfriend, in an ever-growing list.**"** Stiles said, hint of sarcasm never leaving his tone. **"**She was a Darach. Naturally, she tried to kill us all...**"**

**"**A Darach is an Emissary; a Druid, who turned evil.**"** Lydia said slowly. She honestly tried to word this in a better way, one that wasn't offensive, but there was none that would describe the actual meaning of the term.

**"**And you thought I was evil?**"** she asked, though it wasn't quite a question; hurt was evident in her voice but her face was impassive. A well placed mask, carefully crafted. He didn't answer and refused to look at her which was a slap in the face. Really, she didn't know why she even felt so hurt. Maybe because he offered her some sense of normalcy, gave her space and a reason to feel she was at the right place for the first time in a while; like she belonged. **"**Great, thanks...**"**

She stood from her seat and actually power walked to the big steel door leading to the balcony. Slamming it behind her, she made everyone flinch.

Nobody really talked, afraid of making things worse. It was like when mom and dad fought and it's scary and you don't know what to say —or if you should even breathe around them. They just stood as still as they possibly could, feeling cold to the core at the tone of her voice. It was all there; disappointment, pain, offense, that **'**screw you**'** irony slapping them all hard across the face.

**"**Everybody. Out.**"** Derek growled and they all but ran to get out of the loft. Even Peter followed them.

**"**Tough love, you'll thank me later.**"** he told Derek before pushing a hesitant Stiles out the door and pulling it shut behind them.

* * *

She refused to talk to him for the rest of the day. She just stared at the sky and he stared at her from the other side of the window —which was a bit sad in the **'**pathetic**'** sense of the word...

The sun had long ago set by the time he decided to go to her. If she didn't want to talk to him, that was fine, but she had to listen to him eventually. They lived in the same house, she couldn't ignore him. Taking a deep breath, he leaned on the wall behind her and watched as the muscles on her back tensed. She was aware of his presence there with her; good.

**"**You got it all wrong**"** he said and chuckled when she didn't even move a muscle to acknowledge she heard him speak. **"**Jennifer was evil..."

**"**You're not helping your case.**"** she cut him off glaring over her shoulder. Really, he went out there to call her evil again? He must have lost his manners somewhere between the womb and kindergarten…

Taking her snapping at him as a good sign, Derek laughed and moved to stand next to her. **"**Don't be stubborn**"** he said when she took a step away from him. He was one to talk though, but it wasn't the issue at the moment. **"**I have my mother's maiden name; not my dad's. So what I thought was —what I mean is— it was the name that made me...**"**

**"**No, it wasn't.**"** she said stopping him before he uttered some nonsense neither of them would fall for as to cover his initial stupidity.

**"**At first it was.**"** he admitted while admiring the strong lines of her profile. She had a sharp mind to go with them too, he noticed. **"**Then it was the way people responded to you. Everyone adored you, just like that, and you were the innocent that needed to be saved; the soft endangered flower that must be protected from the world...**"**

**"**People like me and want to protect me; yeah, that must mean I'm so evil!**"** Kaya said, voice laced with sarcasm, and she finally turned to look at him. What the hell was he even on about? He made no sense and he had no point or reason to think she was evil. Sure, she wasn't a saint but that was a very far stretch from being an evil homicidal bitch.

**"**As Stiles mentioned, I have a terrible track record.**"** Derek said grinning cheekily. Who knew this could ever work to his advantage? And it was cute that she didn't exactly understand what he was talking about.

**"**What does that mean?**"** she asked tilting her head to the left; left meant confused. She went for the right side when she wanted to look smart or cute.

**"**It means that since I want to keep and protect you, there must be something very wrong with you.**"** he continued before she had time to protest. **"**Or I'm suddenly making the right choices when it comes to damsels in distress...**"**

**"**I am not a damsel.**"** Kaya protested. It was funny how her mind was stuck on that comment and not the rest of what he said.

**"**But you're in distress.**"** he pointed out and put both his hands on her shoulders guiding her inside. She didn't protest and he found himself smiling. It was getting a bit chilly out there.

He didn't want her out in the cold.

* * *

Peter wasn't back yet. Not that Derek was worried or anything, of course, but Kaya had asked about him quite a few times. It was barely an hour after they got inside that it had started pouring rain and the teen was on her toes about the older man not being home yet.

He had actually smiled like an idiot for a good ten minutes when she said that; calling the loft **'**home**'**.

Suddenly it all clicked in his head; they were hers just as much as she was theirs, something like pack or family. It made sense to him now; why Peter had grounded her or why she was so worried about his misfit of an uncle, why Derek himself freaked out when he woke up to find her gone and why she felt so betrayed when she heard he compared her to the actually most evil of all his ex girlfriends. Oops...

**"**For the record, you could never be evil.**"** he told her as she was sprawled on her stomach across his bed doing homework. They really needed to do something about her weird infatuation with his bed. Maybe he'd trade it for hers —or share. No, that was inappropriate.

**"**I'd let you kill me if I was.**"** she said honestly with a smile and returned to her schoolwork. For some reason her statement made him feel worse instead of better.

He stayed there watching her for a little while; highlighting, keeping notes or even texting, before he went to fix them something to eat. Well, he just popped something into the microwaves but it would have to do.

**"**I don't feel like staying in. Do you want to go out?**"** Kaya asked surprising him as she leaned against the wall next to him.

**"**Go where?**"** he asked slightly curious but not shutting down the idea; he was willing. That crazy girl, what was she up to with that weather?

**"**Your house**"** she smirked shrugging **"**Or wherever.**"**

Derek looked at her for a few seconds, contemplating his options. He hadn't been in that ghost of a house while it still stood in a while and when he did, it was to bury evidence or because he was chased. He contemplated telling her there was no house left to begin with anymore but even the idea nagged at him.

"Put on something warm." he said and she grinned clapping her hands with excitement. It made him grin too.

* * *

Of course he had his own set of keys to the construction site.

It was still his property but walking through what used to be his home, his minded drifted to all sorts of memories. If he let himself go for a moment, he'd even hear laughter from his childhood days or his mother telling him to make good choices and Peter bouncing a basketball on the deck trying to teach him. A more recent memory, though, was that of the night John called him about a trespasser in his property; a night just as cold and rainy as this one.

It was odd how often it rained in Beacon Hills this year...

**"**Why did you even want to come here?**"** Derek asked offering his hand to help her jump over a big hole on the ground that the construction hadn't managed to fill yet —oh wait, Peter was buried in it once! The hood he was wearing hid his smile at that knowledge...

**"**I wanted the grand tour.**"** she said as he pulled her over. He eyed her oddly. **"**Floors and walls don't make a home, you know...**" **She said simply. To her, it didn't matter if there was a house or not around them anymore; it used to be a home once and she had a soft spot for them. Maybe it was because she had too little experience in the type.

He knew the sentiment; a little too well in fact. **"**Orphanage?**"** he asked still holding her hand.

**"**Foster care.**"** she said **"**New home almost every other year...**"**

**"**How long?**"** Derek asked carefully and took a few steps closer to her.

She chuckled humorlessly. **"**Nine years give or take**"** Maybe it was the weather or the talk about her past, but she suddenly felt much colder than before so she welcomed the close proximity and nestled against him. **"**Not all terrible, but not exactly good either; some were better than others.**"**

**"**Then you found a pack...**"** Derek said putting both arms around her tightly. His body was always naturally warm anyway so he tried to offer her some comfort.

**"**They found me**"** she buried herself in his arms. Kaya wasn't used to be hugged, especially not by guys looking like Derek Hale, but he didn't make it weird for her. In fact, it was nice. It was nice to be held and protected without someone expecting something in return or trying to twist the gesture into something sexual.

Derek ran his hands up and down her back for a couple of minutes but suddenly his hands stilled on her, arms tightened protectively around her and his body went stiff. She was about to ask him what he picked up on when she heard a set of footsteps coming their way.

A male figure in a raincoat stopped in front of them. **"**You really need to stop with this place.**"** The man pulled his hood down to reveal himself as Jordan Parrish. Insert sigh of relief.

**"**You should probably stop responding to the calls.**"** Derek responded visibly more relaxed and the two men laughed.

Kaya buried her face in Derek's chest to hide her relief that it was just the young Deputy. Derek must have sensed her mind wondering off because he bent his head a little and kissed the top of her head.

* * *

Peter still wasn't back when they returned. Kaya was more relaxed about it this time so, again, Derek didn't sweat it much either. Hmm, maybe he should really thank him about butting out tomorrow; save the initial silent treatment, he had fun alone with Kaya. He chuckled looking at the time; his little bundle of energy was definitely skipping school in, well, a few hours.

Kaya poked her head in from behind the half-ruined wall that marked her personal space. She was in her pajamas and her make-up had been removed. **"**Good night**"** she called out, unsure whether she should go kiss him good night or not.

**"**What do you think you're doing? You're not sleeping in there.**"** Derek said and she walked over to him slowly, her hair dry now. **"**You're taking the bed and...**"**

**"**You're sleeping with me then.**"** she interrupted him and shrugged before he said anything to protest. **"**I'm cold.**"**

He chuckled from his spot on the bed. It wasn't just that she was cold, he knew it too well, she needed the company and reassurance another body gave to a person. He had been there before; it was why he had that list of psychotic girlfriends to begin with. The need for another person's warmth occasionally blinded him and got him into all sorts of messed up situations.

**"**I knew you only wanted me for my body.**"** he joked and pulled the covers, patting the spot next to him.

Kaya jumped in quickly and Derek pulled the covers over them, his body being close enough to keep her warm and comforted yet far enough so it would still be considered appropriate. He reminded himself that she was still a minor, a minor he was supposed to protect.

**"**Don't think so hard, it provokes wrinkles.**"** she said and kissed his cheek. **"**Good night, Derek.**"**

**"**Sweet dreams, kid**"** he said with a grin as she closed her eyes.

* * *

Unlike the fruity scents most girls her age went for, Kaya smelled like something earthy and exotic, tropical. He didn't notice that when they went to sleep but he sure did when he woke up with her curled up against his side with her head on his shoulder. He smiled smugly to himself.

He noticed things about her while she had her eyes closed; her left ear had a single pierce on it while the right had a fading second one, there seemed to be slightly reddish streaks in her hair and she moved around in her sleep only till she found the perfect spot before staying still for the rest of the night. And once or twice in her sleep he caught her inhaling his scent, making sure it was him and he was still there; that was his favorite.

He cursed the second his phone started ringing. Kaya poked one eye open and rolled off him making small protest sounds and he laughed. **"**I hope you weren't dreaming about me.**"** he told Kate on the other end of the line and Kaya slapped his arm glaring with one eye open; it was still weird to him that she had taken a liking to his blonde nemesis. Hearing Kate talk he instantly sobered out of his state of bliss completely and pushed himself to sit up. **"**We'll be right there.**"**

**"**What...?**"** Kaya started to ask worried but he stopped her.

**"**It's Peter.**"**

* * *

The clinic's sign read **'**Closed**'** but Deaton worked anyway.

When a woman like Kate Argent banged frantically on his door he learnt to expect the worst, but he didn't expect to see her and Chris balance a barely conscious and very much bleeding Peter Hale between them. A few minutes later Scott and Malia got in and a few more minutes after that Derek barged through the door with a girl he introduced to him as Kaya in tow.

Chris retreated to the side of the room, hand over Kaya's shoulder in comfort, while the others held Peter down as he writhed on Deaton's table in agony.

**"**His skin must have healed over something that's causing him pain.**"** the doctor said preparing to cut Peter open right in front of everyone. **"**There's redness here…**"**

**"**There was a W carved there, he healed on the way.**"** Kate growled and pushed Peter down on the surgical table with force.

Malia and Derek looked at each other before looking towards a very pale Kaya as she unwrapped the bandage from her wrist discretely.

**"**What are we missing?**"** Chris asked as Peter screamed and thrust around in agony. Scott sighed and punched him in the face knocking him out cold.

**"**That should do it.**"** the young Alpha said satisfied admiring the unconscious body of the once-Alpha.

**"**Explain.**"** Kate demanded placing her hands on her hips.

**"**This happened the other night...**"** Kaya said trying to sound casual and held up her wrist. Kate gasped and Chris took hold of her hand and began examining it. It looked better than it did the other night, but it still wasn't looking that great…

The room fell silent as Deaton asked Kate for instructions on the mark and started cutting the unconscious man accordingly. **"**I'll be damned!**"** he exclaimed quietly and everyone leaned in to see him pull out a vine from Peter's chest.

**"**Is that wolfsbane?**"** Malia asked and Scott nodded uncomfortably.

**"**Where did you find him?**"** Derek asked Chris. Anger was starting to boil up inside him. For all he was, Peter was still his family and he had been practically tortured. He didn't even dare think what could have happened had the Argents not found him…

**"**In the woods, just a couple of miles into the trail from your old house.**"** Chris explained. **"**We go there for shooting practice.**"**

Kaya's attention snapped to Derek. **"**But we...**"**

Derek nodded trying to remain calm and explained. **"**We were there a little after sundown. He must have been close but we didn't see him.**"** he paused to think for a second to see if he missed any signs of him. **"**No —it was raining but still I would have caught his scent in such short distance.**"**

Kaya replayed the events of the previous night in her mind, suddenly having an epiphany. **"**Parrish may know something; I mean he was called in. Right?**"** she looked at Derek who only nodded. **"**When they found me, it was me; I made the call to tip them off. And last night wasn't a random check...**"**

**"**I'll have Lydia ask. See what Parrish knows...**"** Malia said as she furiously typed away on her phone —she had gotten pretty good at that. She sent the other girl the latest news and passed on their request. If Parrish knew something that could help, he'd tell Lydia; anyway, he never denied helping them so far. **"**Now we wait.**"**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Will update for reviews, I kid you not. I want to know what you guys think is happening and all that.**

* * *

**"**...I'm not sure, officer. I— I see two people, a man and a woman. They're at the old Hale property. I can't see who they are but... Oh... I think —I think I see another man there, he may..he may be following them. You have to come quickly; I don't know what's going on out there...**"**

The woman who placed the call sounded like a good show. It was a well staged call, really, a fake one but good nevertheless. The woman showed the appropriate concern anyone would feel if they saw a young couple in a construction site in the middle of a stormy night, she paused in all the right places and ended the call right before it could be traced —had they been tracing it of course. Whoever made that call gave Derek and Kaya to the police and conveniently only hinted Peter's presence at the scene.

Derek nodded in approval. Getting that tape was one thing, but finding the one who placed the call meant finding out who was watching them —and the person who hurt Peter. It was no secret Peter would want his attacker's head; frankly so did Derek and, even if she wouldn't be caught dead admitting it, so did Malia. See, blood really is thicker than water. And whether those three liked it or not, they were a family. So if someone laid a hand on one of them it meant starting a war with the others too.

—And people seemed to love messing with his family.

**"**So whoever made that call was watching you guys and just added Peter to the mix.**"** Scott said but it was more of a question than a statement. The boy was so confused he could barely make sense.

**"**Or somebody honestly saw you and the person stalking you and called it in.**"** Kira shrugged, always trying to see the positive side. Lydia gave her a side glare; her optimism was getting in the way sometimes.

**"**Or there's a mole behind enemy lines.**"** Chris said calmly. He was very collected and, if asked, everyone in the room would recognize the brilliance of his mind. The man was calm and collected even when his own daughter was killed; it was hard to place it somewhere on the scale between **'**amazing**'** and **'**scary**'** with precision. **"**She wasn't leading Parrish to Derek, but Peter. She's giving hints; subtle, but they're there.**"**

**"**She gave the story in reverse.**"** Lydia said holding a finger up and Chris nodded.

**"**A man and a woman are being stalked by a man within the Hale property —a man and a woman stalking a man.**"** Kaya said slowly, testing how the theory fitted. She had this weird notion; if it made sense when you said it out loud, then it was possible. And this made sense. **"**So my stalkers have a stalker.**"**

This made sense too...

**"**Or there's someone out there protecting you.**"** Liam shrugged. The teenager didn't realize the profanity of what he just said which wasn't exactly unusual for him.

**"**Could it be your mother maybe?**"** Kira asked hesitantly and Kaya shrugged.

**"**If it's her, why won't she just show up and explain this shitshow to me? Or just come get me?**"** she said simply. Sure, she loved the idea of her secret protector —if there even was one— to be her long lost mother but she wasn't going to get her hopes up. Hoping for her mother was like hoping for a storm in a drought; pointless and disappointing. And in all honesty she was done setting herself up only to be let down in the end.

**"**And why try to help Peter if that's even the case?**"** Malia asked. **"**Don't get me wrong; I'd love it if your mother showed up all of a sudden to save the day but —you know…" Yeah, Malia knew how Kaya must be feeling about her mom coming up in their talks every so often. She felt the same way; a mother she never met being somewhere out there in the world, breathing the same air as her, looking at the same sky. Even walking the same ground as she did… —Malia knew.

**"**Peter is protecting her so… I don't know. Honor among thieves maybe?**"** Scott suggested.

**"**Or maybe it's between old friends.**"** Derek said and everyone stayed quiet thinking about it. They always assumed that Peter had no friends due to obvious reasons but what if they got it all wrong?

* * *

Peter growled waking up on the table. His chest felt heavy and he didn't feel strong enough to stand. Hell, he barely felt like lifting himself on a sitting position. He was in pain, but way less than he was before. Wait; how long ago was the **'**before**'** he remembered? Minutes, hours, days? No, it couldn't be minutes and it couldn't be days…

**"**Good, you're awake. I was getting bored playing nanny.**"**

Peter regrettably turned his head to face Kate, who was sitting on a steel chair not even a foot away from him. Normally he would curse the fates and most likely Derek too, but just this once he took a moment to notice the image Kate Argent presented. Her hair was a bit disheveled and she looked tired, blood stained the upper left side of her top; his blood he guessed.

**"**Admit it, you were worried.**"** he coughed, amused by the idea of the Ice Queen that Kate was being worried about whether little ole' him survived or not. There was a time they'd kill each other just for breathing the same air. **"**The kids?**"**

**"**Deaton's office; trying to piece what happened together.**"** she said and moved closer to help him lift. She was a bit worried; but only a bit, she wasn't going to make a habit of it so there was no point in telling. **"**Chris just left to the Sherriff's and I have the Berserkers shadowing the place —if anyone comes near, we'll know.**" **she said with a hint of pride over earning the right to have Berserkers again.

This time, her pets were killers the Calaveras wanted to be rid of and the pack could use a few extra hands so it was a win-win for both sides.

**"**Good. What do they know so far?**"** he asked and allowed the blonde to help him, he was in no shape to put his pride first. Damn him, but he had people to protect this time around and he actually cared to stay alive and do so.

**"**There was a call to the Sherriff's department about people being in your property, I heard the kids think there's a leak on the other side.**"** she explained. **"**Parrish sent over the tape.**"**

**"**And what do you think?**"** Peter asked with an underlying implication in his voice. They had almost a year of talks like this; what others believed and what Kate thought —both as a hunter and a were-jaguar.

**"**I'm with them.**"** she shrugged. **"**I know how easy it is to buy people to do your dirty work. Money makes the world go round…**"**

**"**True.**"** Peter admitted; after all he was the guy who got ripped off just last year…

**"**What do you remember?**"** Kate asked.

**"**There was a familiar face out there.**"** Peter said smirking. **"**Let's just say this one wasn't bought only with money to be on our side.**"**

She knew something like that meant one of two things; power or sex. Both were a good deal, but she preferred to make her exchanges in kind. **"**Do I even want to know?**"**

**"**All in due time…**"** Peter said cryptically with a grin on his face.

* * *

_Peter forced all the strength he had out and moved as fast as he could. The place he woke up, that cage, was only fit for an animal but the door was open. He had no delusion that whoever it was that captured him had forgotten to lock him up. He knew there was someone there that was letting him go, for whatever reason, and he was no fool to just let the chance go by._

_So he ran. He ran as fast as his legs would take him and as far away from that makeshift camping ground as he could._

_He wasn't sure how many miles he ran till he finally collapsed against a tree, just a few more miles. A few more miles and he'd be there, at his old home. Even the land made him feel safer; as if Talia or their parents would put a blanket around him and protect him from the cold cruel world. Just a few more miles…_

_A few more miles and maybe he'd have a chance to survive or even say goodbye to the kids; Derek who he used to see more as a little brother than a nephew, his only child Malia, even the little bundle of pure gold who stomped her way into their lives. Hell, he'd love to say goodbye even to the others, whom he hated most of the time. Or maybe he deserved to die alone for all he did to people and even his own family…_

**_"_**_Peter —Peter wake up. You hear me? Stay awake.__**"**__ a familiar female voice pulled him out of his dying trance._

**_"_**_You…__**"**__ he mumbled unsure if what he was seeing was true "You let me out…__**"**_

**_"_**_No. But people are coming to find you so just stay alive a little longer, okay?__**"**__ she said and Peter nodded._

**_"_**_What— what do you want?__**"**__ he stammered. Even in a state like the one he was in he knew her, she would want something in return. She always did. And this time he had a lot of money to offer —as long as he stayed alive._

**_"_**_Call it a favor.__**"**__ the woman smirked. __**"**__For old times' sake.__**"**_

_And then everything turned black and she was gone. And his next memory was that of Kate Argent yelling at him to stay alive from the front seat of her brother's car._

* * *

_Received texts after midnight meant one of two things; drunken texting or a trap. He knew better, sure, but it was just like that saying —curiosity killed the cat. But satisfaction brought it back_

_He sure wasn't easy to kill, so what the hell..._

_His old house still plagued his dreams and nightmares but there he stood; in the land of what used to be his house. The land itself held many memories for him; his childhood had been spent on this land._

_Lost down Memory Lane, he didn't hear the footsteps behind him, he didn't smell the human approaching him from behind but he felt the small dart pierce the back of his neck. Damn Mother Nature for wolfsbane..._

* * *

_Waking up tied to a table was nowhere near the top of the list of things Peter wanted to experience. Ever. He pulled on his restraints as hard as he could but his strength wasn't back yet. In fact he felt completely unable to make the damn leather cuffs holding him down move a single inch._

_Had he cursed nature for wolfsbane yet? Oh, right, he had..._

**_"_**_There's no reason to struggle Mister Hale__**"**__ a male voice said from somewhere Peter couldn't see. __**"**__I am only saying this for your own comfort of course...__**"**_

**_"_**_Oh, bite me.__**"**__ Peter barked out. He was tied up and made fun of; there wasn't a lot more his ego could take by that point. And not seeing who he was talking to was vexing to get on his nerves really fast._

**_"_**_Oh no, Peter —I may call you Peter, right? I do believe biting people is your specialty.__**"**__ the man's voice said in a cynical tone. __**"**__Mine is much less animalistic. But I have grown to appreciate the use of your kind in this world; I must admit you make excellent guard dogs.__**"**_

_Peter growled with all the strength he had in him. The man wanted to see the beast —fine by him. His wolf had never failed him. Not even when his human senses and logic had abandoned him; especially then his wolf stayed true to him._

_The man laughed when Peter's eyes flashed that bright blue color of theirs; the one of a wolf who had taken an innocent life. __**"**__Impressive; but you see I've done my homework. I would have been terribly suicidal had I just taken you on without some kind of a fail safe.__**"**_

_A needle suddenly pierced Peter's throat and he growled, this time in pain. That blasted herb should be burnt down forever, never to be grown again._

_With Peter subdued again, the man took a few steps forward and revealed himself. He was in his mid sixties, with white hair forming a halo around the back of his skull —even though he was certainly no angel. He wasn't really tall either and his entire presence reminded him a lot of Gerard Argent. But, if that was possible, he was a lot darker than the old hunter ever had been. And from what Peter had gathered so far, he was a hell lot crazier too —awesome._

_Taking a better look at the man's face Peter noticed the eye patch he was wearing and an ugly set of claw marks starting from his chin and running down his neck. This kept getting better by the second._

**_"_**_Brilliant, aren't they?__**"**__ the man asked, even though it was mostly a statement, and let his fingers trace his most recently acquired scars. __**"**__A group of your kind gave me these a few months back.__**"**__ he paused for a second and smirked. __**"**__I slaughtered each and every one of them in return.__**"**_

_Peter barked out a laugh. __**"**__You're doing a great job in making me think of you as a jerk. Intimidating me though —you kind of suck.__**"**__ Peter had killed as well, plenty of times, some alpha-male talk about who killed more wasn't going to scare him that easily. In fact, he knew the old man wouldn't kill him. If that was the purpose of this, then they wouldn't be talking about it..._

**_"_**_Sometimes, Peter, your kind wows me.__**"**__ the one eyed man mused. __**"**__You have this strong sense of loyalty and absolutely no regard towards danger. Why so, Peter?__**"**_

_Peter huffed contemplating whether he should act as a child or as the adult he was. __**"**__Family is more than blood.__**"**__ he said deciding on the latter. __**"**__We value trust and those who offer it to us. It's part of our nature.__**"**_

**_"_**_And the other part of you —the predators you are inside?__**"**_

**_"_**_We're a misunderstood breed, what can I say...__**"**__ he chuckled __**"**__Are you familiar with the hunters' oath?__**"**_

_The man grunted displeased. __**"**__We hunt those who hunt us.__**"**__ he spat out the English words. He hated hunters almost equally as werewolves._

_Peter laughed weakly at the man's reaction. A while ago, he'd pour him a drink and plan glorious murder with him just for that. __**"**__It works like that for us too. Family feuds aside of course.__**"**_

**_"_**_You see, Peter, I despise your kind but never would I have come after you had your people not meddled with my family feud.__**"**__ the man said stoically. __**"**__You took something that belongs to me.__**"**_

_Peter closed his eyes and smirked; now they were cutting to the chase. Finally. __**"**__Kaya.__**"**_

**_"_**_Yes.__**"**__ the man said and Peter could tell from his voice that he was smirking. If kidnapper dude thought he was going to hand the girl over to him then he was an idiot. The kid was now family too; not to mention she sort of belonged to Derek though they were both shitheads and refused to see it._

**_"_**_Oh sweetheart, do you want me to deliver the message?__**"**__ Peter asked sarcastically. Yeah, right..._

**_"_**_No, sir." another male voice said, a new one —younger one. __**"**__You are the message.__**"**_

* * *

_The younger man, Blake as the others called him, was the true sadist between the two he had encountered so far. Yes, the green eyed blond man hand a kink for needles and scalpers and anything surgical. Peter could bet the man was a doctor or something; he knew a little too well where to cut to inflict the most pain._

**_"_**_I hope you find me just as entertaining as my father, Mister Hale.__**"**__ Blake said as he began putting a vine of wolfsbane inside Peter's chest and the werewolf screamed in agony._

**_"_**_You're just as crazy as he is.__**"**_

**_"_**_No, we are not crazy —vindictive, yes, very much so. But we aren't crazy.__**"**__ the man responded and his lips turned up slightly looking somewhere behind Peter so he couldn't know who or what he was looking at.__**"**__We just want what belongs to us.__**"**_

**_"_**_And she does?__**"**__ Peter stammered as the wolfsbane weakened him more._

**_"_**_She is ours, yes.__**"**__ Blake paused for a few seconds and carefully put more of the vine inside the cavity he had opened on Peter's chest. His work was very careful, measured —more than his people would like if anyone was watching, but this was just the way he worked; slowly, methodically. He knew the best way to inflict pain was by making slow and precise movements, being hasty only took from the process and ended the victims suffering quickly. And he wasn't the merciful type. __**"**__You have to understand, Mister Hale, I don't take pleasure from torturing people —okay, maybe some— but it's not something I like to do for fun or to fill my time. And neither does my father. We want what belongs to us and your kind has always made sure it was kept from us.__**"**_

**_"_**_She's a person.__**"**__ Peter murmured. __**"**__You keep calling her an __**'**__it__**'**__. Kaya —she's a person."_

_Blake's lips turned up slightly again. __**"**__She is. An amazing one too, isn't she? Magnetic, charismatic…__**"**__ he mused, his eyes lightning a bit as he spoke of her. __**"**__Have you ever wondered why she's so perfect? I'm sure you haven't. You are a man after all; maybe you're even attracted to her. Not that I would blame you, Mister Hale; she's a little enchantress like her mother. She can pull the man out of the boy and then bring him to his knees, tear him apart and then put him back together without even trying.__**"**_

**_"_**_Sounds like someone I know…__**"**__ Peter smirked in his now dizzy state. He knew a woman like that; Kate. She could bring anyone to his knees, even the most clever and aware to her tricks type of man. He had to admit that about the woman._

**_"_**_Maybe you do…__**"**__ the man laughed a short yet honest and amused laugh __**"**__But that girl; she belongs to us, Peter. We can tame her; control her. To you and your people she'll only bring chaos and death. Just give her to us…"_

**_"_**_She's not mine to give.__**"**__ Peter mumbled. __**"**__And she's not yours to take either.__**"**_

**_"_**_I'll let you think about that again for a little while.__**"**__ Blake said and stuck a needle in Peter's throat, rendering him unconscious as he finished his little handy work._

* * *

_The cage was small and fit for an animal; maybe a tiger. The bars where thick and there wasn't enough space for something other than a hand to cross through; even that with difficulty. There were other cages around too; men and women inside them, and the light illuminated only a few of them. Despite his blurry vision, Peter saw some of them were down —probably sedated by Blake— while those who seemed to be awake had their backs turned to him._

_Peter began banging his legs against the metal bars as hard as he could since his voice seemed to fail him to get their attention. A few of them seemed to suddenly be aware of his presence but none of them turned to look at him. From the sounds, he realized they were chewing on something and with all he had in him, he growled._

_A man, a few cages away, slowly turned to face him; for a second, even the mighty Peter Hale himself, wished he hadn't. The sight wasn't one he had ever laid eyes on before._

_The man's face was distorted in all sorts of horrible ways. He resembled a werewolf, but not quite. He was something else entirely; his eyes were bleeding but had this bright off-white color and had two sets of teeth. He held something that resembled a human limb; Peter was too sickened by the image to try and figure out what it was._

_What had they done? They created some sort of chimera in their vague effort to get a hold of Kaya? And if they got their hands on her, what were they to do with the poor girl then? The man in front of him was all the proof he needed that the men he met were the crazy type you never wanted to run into but if you did, killing them was the only way to rid the world of their kind._

_Despite his disgust, Peter tried to take in as many of the man's characteristics as he possibly could. Yes; he looked like a werewolf but also like a Wendigo. Damn those men, they created a living breathing cannibal with two predator species. Guard dogs; yes, that's what the pirate looking man said to him, he wanted guard dogs._

_Well, he created monsters; the real kind._

_And Peter only hoped there was a way of stopping them._


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'm easy to bribe. Just tell me how you feel.**

* * *

The sun was down by the time they were on the road.

The drive back from Deaton's was quiet and Kaya didn't even try to break it. Derek had that stormy expression on his face; the one even those who had no experience being around him knew not to mess with. The one that screamed he was ready to hurt or murder someone. On the odd occasion they stopped at a traffic light, Derek would huff annoyed at being interrupted from his therapeutic drive and threw small glances her way as if making sure she hadn't somehow vanished from the passenger seat. She'd find it cute if it wasn't so nerve wrecking.

When they arrived home he was still quiet, brooding. He walked in first, not paying attention to whether she bolted the door or not as he usually instructed her to do, and threw his leather jacket on the small blue couch. Despite herself, Kaya did actually bolt the door; partially out of fear after what happened to Peter right under their noses while another part of her didn't want to upset him more than he already was. She took off her jacket too and threw it next to his before she slowly moved towards him.

—Slow, careful steps not to anger the caged animal inside his mind.

Derek was leaning against the huge table he used as a workspace, arms outstretched and his head hanging between them. He felt defeated, a failure. Certainly, Peter was going to be okay but what if what happened was more serious? What if the Argents hadn't found him when they did or what if Deaton couldn't do something to fix him? What if his uncle died?

His uncle!

Then it would be just him with the girls; no Peter to stand in front of them as he subconsciously did when people tried something against them. No Peter to screw things up and then put them back together on his quest for power. Oh god, what would he tell Cora? And Malia; she had just found Peter and, dire as he may be, he was her dad. What if they had actually lost him?

It took Derek a while to figure out but what Peter really wanted when he chased after power like the madman he sometimes is was to bring back power to their family. To recreate the Hale family as it once was; strong, safe. There was a time, the time Peter grew up in, when the family wasn't chased all over town, when the werewolves were respected creatures —benevolent ones too. The Hales always saved their money in huge vaults, hidden from the world in plain sight, but they had helped the town flourish.

Kaya gently placed a hand on his shoulder but he quickly grabbed her wrist. She gasped a bit, surprised, as Derek had never treated her like this before. This time he looked angry, offended she touched him, and slowly he removed her hand from him. **"**Don't.**"** he warned quietly letting go of her hand. He didn't dare to lift his eyes to her face, he didn't need to; he could practically paint her disappointed look on an invisible canvas inside his mind, he couldn't bear to see that look on yet another person. The list was already far too long for his conscience to bear…

At least she was still breathing to be disappointed in him. That had to count for something.

She blinked a couple of times to shake that awfully bitter taste his rejection left her with and moved to stand closer to him. Close, yet she didn't touch him again, she wasn't sure she could take another rejection. And, maybe, there was a tiny part of herself that feared he was blaming her; that he finally understood why she never stayed in one place for too long, that he finally got the hint and realized what happened to everyone who stood to help her. That it would have been safer for them if they had let her sneak out the other night.

**"**It's okay to be worried about him, Derek…**"** she started hesitantly. She had to choose her words carefully so she wouldn't anger or worry him more. **"**Peter's your family. Good or bad, he's been there your whole life…**"**

**"**Not all of it.**"** he said turning his head to look at her for a second. There was an unspoken question on her face and he quickly returned his gaze to the patterns on the table. **"**And the time he was gone was far worse for me than all those times he was around and I hated his guts. And I actually hated him**"** he breathed out a humorless laugh **"**for a long time. I was glad when he died —when I killed him.**"**

There were no words for a couple of moments, only silence. The kind she usually considered eerie and suffocating. She found his gaze locked on the waterlines on the table, the unsorted patterns, and she chuckled softly. She let her fingers trace over some of those lines, between his hands too, but never close enough to have him question whether she would or wouldn't touch him again. **"**I used to look at these and wonder, you know; if the cause of them were people with broken hearts or broken homes…**"**

**"**Did you ever find out?**"**

**"**They come from the worst kind, Derek —people with broken lives.**"** Kaya said in a low voice. In the moment, she dealt with him like the wolves first dealt with her; like a broken child. A scared child who trusted nobody, not even the shadow that belonged to it. Because at that very moment, Derek Hale was not a man ready to conquer the world with nothing but his bare hands but a lost and lonely boy, scared of losing what's been a constant point in his life whether he appreciated it or not at the time.

**"**Can they ever be fixed?**"** he asked quietly.

**"**They can. But only if they really want to…**"** she trailed off. She didn't want to push him, and the touch that repelled him so much was only a touch aimed to comfort.

She felt like the Alpha of the pack that took care of her, Jules, when the woman first found her; sitting on a rock. She was about 15, a runaway from the system and a few assassins too. The woman had sat on a rock for a week; waiting patiently, quietly, before Kaya took the first step towards her. And here she was now, sitting on a very metaphorical rock for a man like Derek Hale.

**"**I'm sorry…**"** he said and turned to her slowly. He ran his hands across his face a few times and breathed out loudly, rattled by how worried and unsettled he was about what happened. He would never tell Peter himself, but he was worried about the man —crappy as he was sometimes, the man was his family. And he couldn't bear to lose any more.

**"**Don't be.**"** she said with a small smile trying to comfort him.

She was surprised when he reached for her hand, took it in his and looked down at her, a tired expression painted on his features. He was tired; emotionally, not physically, and it was written all over his face. **"**Can we go to bed now?**"** he asked in a tone he rarely used. He pleaded.

**"**Yeah —let's just sleep.**"** Kaya agreed and let him pull her along with him towards his bed. She'd only stay if he wanted her to.

When he waited for her to climb in first, she kicked off her shoes and followed the unspoken command —or maybe it was a request, not that it mattered which— to stay. Derek climbed in a few seconds after her and pulled the covers up to them. But unlike the last time they shared a bed, he was the one who nestled against her seeking the comfort she had to offer. Hesitantly, she put her arms around him the best way she could and held her breath as he moved around, making himself comfortable there, in a position he clearly wasn't used to. When he didn't flinch or push her away she breathed out relieved and ran small circles on his back till he fell asleep.

* * *

The woman sat at the bar with her legs crossed. She wasn't there to play seductress and she sure wasn't dressed for it, but the eyes of many men were on her as per usual —which wasn't the safest thing for what she was there to do. She swirled the glass with the colorless liquor in her hand, waiting for her companion to show up; the woman was late again.

When the older woman showed up it was a quarter past late and she was on edge. **"**After 17 years, I hoped you knew not to call me in the middle of a crisis.**"** she whisper yelled and the Mother laughed cynically.

**"**What the hell did you think you were doing, messing with Peter Hale?**"** the younger female demanded. Her dear old nemesis must be getting frustrated and desperate if he showed his face to a Hale. Oh how she enjoyed the thought of Peter eventually tearing him apart, bit by boring bit, in her place; if all went according to her plan, she wouldn't even have to come forward. The old man was a creature of habit, she knew —and revenge was by far his worst one. Or maybe the best, depending on which side one was on.

**"**He's losing his mind being so close yet so far from her…**"** the woman said, flipping her dark hair back **"**He was desperate enough to let Peter have a private chat with the Doctor.**"**

**"**The Doctor as in…?**"** the Mother asked curiously, her hand in the air making a movement that was known to quote **'**enlighten me**'**.

The woman smirked. **"**Oh I forgot, you haven't heard. The once prodigal son has returned to his Father's good graces and he's a well respected doctor now. Brilliant scientist…**"** she said a bit sarcastically. She used to like the man once, about two decades ago, when he was a free spirit and didn't play along with his father's crazy notions but now she wasn't sure she could see eye to eye with him. In fact she tried to avoid him as much as she could so they wouldn't have to find out…

**"**Won't you look at that …**"** she smirked. She remembered him back in the days; he was the cool, all American type of guy but with a bad boy attitude. They were friends once too. Lovers at one point during the decades too; but she was never going to share that little piece of information with anyone. No wonder he never told her about med school, but it was no wonder he never told his dad about her either…

**"**You're not paying attention.**"** the dark haired woman said agitated. **"**He's not just a doctor but a scientist too. Add it to his other talents too and you have a living breathing doctor Frankenstein.**"**

The Mother huffed annoyed. Yes, she could see the bigger picture now; the old man was desperate to get a hold of Kaya and for more power so he brought in his now mad scientist of a son. Just great. **"**What do I need to know?**"**

**"**Cross-species between a werewolf and wendigo. I'm not sure how he isolated every gene and stuff, but he created a bunch of cannibals. They feed solely on raw meat; human, animal, it's all the same to them. They exist to kill when the time comes.**"** she explained. **"**I don't know what else to tell you… You need to find a way to reverse this; or kill them.**"**

**"**If I knew of a way to reverse the supernatural gene we'd be free of a whole load of trouble; don't you think?**"** the Mother asked sarcastically and threw her drink back. Oh how easy it would be if there was an off switch for the supernatural… Not the Kanima version of Jackson Whittemore or even what had turned Derek Hale almost human was a permanent thing. She needed to find a way to kill those who would soon try to kill her daughter. After all; she was taught to hunt those who hunted her.

And hunting her kid meant war.

* * *

**"**Just because we live in California doesn't mean you had to get rid of every sweater you ever owned, you know.**"** Kate scolded Kaya and the teen huffed annoyed.

**"**Yes mom…**"** she said ironically and Kate looked at her oddly **"**What?**"**

**"**Nothing.**"** the blonde shrugged refusing to openly acknowledge having been identified as a parent. **"**You're just weird.**"** she said bumping her shoulder against Kaya's.

**"**Said poster child for normalcy…**"** Kaya laughed. If only Derek saw them like that he'd have a heart attack. But then again he was the one that had sent Kaya off with Kate on a shopping spree.

Did the pack trust Kate? No. Did they trust her around Kaya? No. But it was a deal cut very clearly; upon her first screw up, Kate was going to say goodbye to this vain world. Basically they let the wolf —pun intended— guard the sheep, because the sheep was the wolf's ticket to survivor. Clear cut; if anything happened to Kaya on her watch, Kate Argent was going to meet her oh so beloved ancestors in the far beyond.

Both females held a few bags too many when they stopped for coffee. They were set to go back to the loft to leave Kaya's bags and then straight to Deaton's to pick up Peter, who would totally nag about being babied by a girl his daughter's age and his mortal enemy —if he was till there and hadn't bolted out of there on his own that is.

**"**Hey Kate…**"** Kaya started coyly over the rim of her cup. **"**Why don't you have any kids? —You don't have any, right?**"**

**"**I'd tell you…**"** Kate said leaning forward **"**but then I'd have to kill you.**"** Kaya laughed shaking her head. **"**Why?**"**

**"**I don't know…**"** she shrugged **"**You're good with teenagers, I guess.**"**

**"**I had Allison.**"** the blonde smiled sadly but quickly shook her head. **"**She did it for me. I don't need to be raising someone else when I'm not sure I can keep myself alive by the end of the year.**"**

**"**It's a dreadful world we live in…**"** Kaya agreed aware of the people around them. It would be a great laugh if someone heard them talk about hired assassins and other supernatural creatures coming after them on a weekly basis every now and then.

**"**You see my point then.**"** Kate said swallowing her coffee quickly. **"**Besides I'd make a crappy parent and I don't want to give Peter another thing to grill me about.**"**

**"**You don't grill him about his parenting skills.**"**

**"**You mean the lack of them.**"** Kate said and Kaya glared at her a little. **"**Okay, okay… You know Nietzsche?**"** she asked and the teen nodded. Kate smiled feeling impressed and maybe slightly proud **"**He once said that when one has not had a good father, one must create one. You know what that means?**"**

**"**If you had a crappy parent, be a better one to your kids.**"** the brunette shrugged. She wasn't sure where Kate was going with this but she didn't really mind as long as the woman kept talking to her. She never had a mother of her own, so she was a bit of a groupie for older women being friendly and open to conversation with her.

**"**Pretty much.**"** the older woman agreed. **"**But people like Peter —like me— we're not exactly meant to be parents, you know… We'd be more bad than good to a child. Ask him, he'll agree; Malia was lucky to be adopted. Despite what happened to her later…**"** she trailed off, not bringing up the fact that the girl had ended up raising herself in the woods walking in all fours instead of growing up in a family as a human as it was planned.

**"**But he raised Derek…**"** the teen said and Kate shook her head.

Kate raised a finger and shook it in a **'**no**'** motion. **"**Derek was about your age when he lost his family and Peter was a vegetable.**"** she said. **"**Laura stuck him with a wolf pack she had an in with and after 18 he was on his own.**"**

**"**You kept tabs on him...**"**

**"**Busted.**"** she shrugged and pushed her lips together. **"**I always keep tabs on people, kiddo. Especially those whose lives I've ruined one way or another. But you don't get to tell him that.**"** she ordered. It was a friendly tone the blonde ex-hunter used but it was still an order.

**"**I wasn't going to.**"** Kaya said and shrugged. **"**You should think about it though…**"**

**"**What?**"**

**"**Having kids**"** Kaya chuckled. **"**You're already playing pack mommy with all us, teens, around; and it's not like you have anything to lose…**"** the teen suggested wickedly **"**I mean Peter's good looking —and very much single. Like you…**"**

**"**That's very funny; cheeky young madam.**"** Kate pinched Kaya's cheek over the table. **"**But forget about it.**"**

**"**Okay…**"** Kaya sighed a bit defeated but a few seconds later there was mischief in her eyes again. **"**Hey Kate…**"**

**"**No, no, no, no, no.**"** Kate cut her off. **"**You don't get to **'**hey Kate**'** me again. Ever. We always get into awkward conversations when you start like that.**"** she said and gave her a pointing look. Kaya crossed her arms to her chest and pouted.

She was very mature at times.

* * *

Deaton's clinic was disturbingly quiet when they arrived an hour later.

It almost looked like a scene from a horror movie; you could smell that coppery smell of blood in the air. Kate could hear water dripping from the pipes —pipes she had never even noticed before. Kaya was taking small steps as opposed to Kate's large yet very cautious and calculated once. The older female reached carefully for the nearest light switch but nothing happened.

**"**You do not leave my side.**"** she whispered through grinded teeth. Without giving it much thought, she pulled out a gun from the back of her pants and thrust it in Kaya's palm. **"**Anything comes near you that is not me —shoot it.**"**

**"**You carried around a gun all day?**"** Kaya whisper yelled and Kate shrugged. It wasn't the first time she held a gun in her hands but this time it felt different, heavier; weighting with the knowledge in her head that she might actually have to shoot someone. But if those years she spent literally running for her life taught her one thing, it was that pathetic **'**better you than I**'** attitude when it came to her stalkers.

**"**Even Derek carries a gun.**"** the woman responded. **"**Why are you so surprised? I'm a hunter.**"**

Kaya just rolled her eyes.

Kate's steps were noticeably smaller now; more calculating of all the possibilities, of what could be waiting for them around the corner. Flexing the muscles of her neck, her face slowly transformed into one highlighted by shades of blue and green, her eyes taking an electric green shade. As her claws came out she turned around and glanced at Kaya who was still studying the gun. Great. **"**Just find someplace to hide once we're in there.**"** She grunted displeased by how clueless the girl seemed when it came to protecting herself.

The teenager smirked to herself as the woman turned her back to her. If she fooled Kate Argent, the almighty hunter with the supernatural senses, then she could fool anyone into thinking she was a soft delicate flower and if that time ever came and need arose, she would strike. Jules had taught her well…

Closing her eyes for a second she leaned her head against the wall, one palm flat against it, concentrating on the sounds she could hear. Small sounds of weight shifting, soft calculating breaths and the smell of gunpowder; she felt them all in her veins. **"**Count…**"** she whispered to herself but it got Kate's attention too.

The older female looked at her curiously and tilted her head a bit to the left. She didn't say a word but for a few seconds she noticed the serenity yet calculation that now graced the teenager's features. She was really counting something…

**"**Ten.**"** Kaya said and her eyes snapped open. **"**And they're heavily armed.**"** Noticing the questioning look on Kate's face she just shrugged. **"**Just because I don't have claws doesn't mean I don't have a few talents of my own…**"**

Kate smirked.

Oh she knew the girl was special; she knew a lot more about her than she probably knew about herself. Peter still grilled her about that little piece of knowledge. "On three we go in there. I kill, you hide. And if need be…**"** she looked towards the gun she had given to the girl and she nodded. **"**One…**"**

**"**Two…**"**

**"**Three.**"**

* * *

**"**Derek!**"** Kate yelled as she got into the loft, Kaya's body in her hands.

Derek ran to her and took the girl from her arms, her calm heartbeat against him as he carried her to the bed easing his mind a little bit. He slowly put her on the bed and checked her for wounds.

**"**She's fine. You won't find any.**"** Kate assured him a bit breathless. **"**She just passed out...**"**

**"**Kate.**"** Derek growled. **"**What did you do to her?**"**


	10. Chapter 10

_Had they been starring in an action movie, Kate would have kicked the door down and started firing at the men who had tried to ambush them while screaming like Xena the Warrior Princess. Had they been starring in a horror movie, she would have asked the cliché __**'**__who's there?__**'**__ question with a trembling voice and wait for her soon-to-be killer to respond with the appropriate deafening silence before cautiously walking in to be slaughtered._

_But this wasn't a movie —and even if it was, Kate would have been the anti-hero._

_So instead of following those stupid movie clichés, she stayed true to her usual cocky self. Taking a deep breath, she plastered a smirk on her currently colorful face and strutted into the room. Slow steps, crossing one leg in front of the other like in catwalk fashion, her hips swaying with every step. __**"**__Hello boys__**"**__ she mused __**"**__Fancy seeing you here!__**"**_

_With their attention on her face and body, Kate made the first move. In a quick flip of her wrists she had already ripped two men's chests open and pulled out their hearts. __**"**__This will be very quick, I see.__**"**__ she chuckled as she dropped their hearts and the men fell lifeless to the floor._

_With a quick glance she noticed Kaya was right; ten men —well, now eight— waited for them. And this was no social call; they were there for the kill. Within the next few seconds there was havoc but her senses alerted her that Kaya was in the room hiding as instructed. Kate smirked at that; at least the kid took a hint when it was most needed._

_Bullet sounds echoed around the steel covered room and the metallic smell of blood, that distinctive smell of copper filled Kate's nostrils. She too ached for the kill as she ripped those men apart limb by limb; their guns were useless in close range, let alone against her in hand combat and Kate's claws tore through their flesh viciously. She could feel their blood covering her slowly and it pleased her; she had been domesticated for too long, it felt good to tear those pieces of shit apart._

_As she tore the men to bits methodically, one escaped. Crawling on all fours, he moved towards Kaya's hiding spot under a desk; it wasn't the brightest place she could find to hide but it was the best the girl could work with in a moment of crisis and bloodshed. Knife between his teeth, the young man crawled towards her. And she was there, curled up in a ball looking frightened; he smirked._

**_"_**_Don't worry, sweetheart__**"**__ he cooed looking at her, smirk still on his face. __**"**__He wants you alive, so you're safe.__**"**_

_Kaya lifted her gaze to his, her lost and scared expression fading away and being instantly replaced by that of determination and coldness. __**"**__You're not.__**"**__ she said lifting the gun she was hiding and firing a single bullet between the man's eyes._

_Kate froze for a second in her spot. A bullet. A bullet that wasn't fired towards her. __**"**__Kaya?__**"**__ she called out turning her face towards the desk the girl was hiding under. A sigh of relief escaped her as the young brunette stood up, coming out of her hiding. She had blood on the top of her shirt and all over her face and hair, but she was unharmed; she was okay._

_Looking at Kate's relieved expression she raised the gun and, with her eyes locked with the ones of the she-wolf, she took a shot. The bullet passed right over Kate's shoulder and went straight into a man who was standing behind her. The man was practically holding his insides but still had the nerve to make one last attempt against her._

**_"_**_I killed them...__**"**__ Kaya stammered her expression changing again to that of pure shock while all color drained from her face._

**_"_**_It was a good shot.__**"**__ Kate praised as she glanced at the dead man over her shoulder. __**"**__You just saved my life, you know...__**"**__ she said walking towards the girl._

_She knew how the teen felt, she had been that girl._

_When she first killed a person she felt a little dead inside too. Kate Argent had killed many times since, so many that she didn't really care, she wasn't affected by it; but Kaya had taken a life —two— for the first time. If sugarcoating it helped her even a tiny bit then that's what Kate was going to do. Have her think she couldn't have stopped the man alone, that she would have died had it not been for her…_

_It was a tiny hit her ego could take for the girl's sanity._

**_"_**_I killed them. I killed two men.__**"**_

**_"_**_You did what you had to do to protect us.__**"**__ Kate said and pulled the girl to her arms, her hand running through brunette tresses._

**_"_**_I killed those men.__**"**__ Kaya mumbled against Kate as the woman stroke her hair. Slowly, she faded into nothingness._

* * *

**"**What did you do to her, Kate?**"** Derek growled again but Kate ignored him. **"**Tell me, damn it!**"**

**"**She took a life.**"** Kate finally told him calmly as she pushed a few strands of hair away from Kaya's forehead. **"**Two to be exact…**"**

Derek breathed out heavily. Suddenly he felt there was too much air inside him, clotting his brain. **"**When? How?**"** he sighed letting himself fall back to a sitting position on the floor. He knew what that meat; the kill. For a werewolf it was something like a rite of passage to a whole other state; you practically traded a part of yourself in an unspoken deal with an unseen devil for more physical strength and power within the werewolf community. But for a human —it was all about sacrifice. Killing someone for the first time —killing someone period— was like killing a small part of your soul.

Taking a life meant giving up part of yours, it changed people.

**"**We were set up. They came for us, Derek.**"** Kate sighed and took a seat next to the unconscious teenager and looked through her purse for something to clean the teen's face with. **"**When we went to get Peter, they were waiting for us.**"** When she finally found the wet wipes she was looking for she started cleaning the dry blood off the girl's face tentatively.

**"**Tell me…**"**

**"**There were ten men there, in the animal clinic. The place was dark, pipes were leaking —a real horror flick set. I told her to hide and let me handle it, placed a gun in her hand…**"** Kate paused, wondering herself if she regretted giving Kaya the gun. She really didn't; she just regretted that the girl had to use it. **"**I guess as I killed people one got to her and tried to talk to her or hurt her. Oh Derek, it was a perfect shot; right between the eyes.**"**

Kate seemed to be impressed and the emotionless part of him was too, but the other part of him, the part that cared and knew what taking a life a tender age like that meant, ached for the girl. **"**And the other one?**"**

**"**The other one she killed for me.**"** Kate said and smiled slowly looking at the girl, fondly even, as her gaze moved from the unconscious girl to Derek. **"**She actually killed someone 'cause she thought I needed to be protected.**"**

Derek closed his eyes and breathed out audibly through his nose at the small irony in the thought that Kate Argent would ever need to be protected. He could feel pride swelling inside of him for the girl laying on his bed; for the girl that would give a piece of her to protect someone, to protect a person she considered to be one of her own —even if that person was Kate, whom he personally despised. Kaya would go that extra mile for a person, because she was _that_ good.

**"**Can you imagine that love?**"** the woman mumbled as she traced her fingers across the girl's face. She looked at Derek's expression and chuckled. **"**I know, I know… I don't deserve that kind of sacrifice, you'll say. But you seem to forget that I was human once too…**"**

**"**A human that took pleasure in ruining lives. Just like you do now. There's not much of a difference there really, if you're asking me.**"** He replied harshly. Sometimes, when he watched the woman with the kids, he almost forgot what she was capable of; but then he realized how much she looked like a mother and remembered Talia, his own mother, who was dead because of her. And the hatred returned.

**"**I see; you blame me for everything. And you're probably right…**"** Kate said looking down. For the first time she averted her eyes from him as he spoke of her past crimes. It actually felt vulgar to look at him in the presence of the sleeping girl who had just killed for her; who had just killed for a murderer.

**"**At least you're giving me that much!**"** he exclaimed. Anger was slowly starting to boil up inside of him; all those years of keeping the anger in, channeling it, using it as his own anchor, it was all coming back to him now. **"**You killed my family; took it all away, Kate. Everything good I could have had. You made me into _this_.**"** He spat out the last word with so much anger it even surprised him. Maybe because, in a way, it was the first time he admitted out loud that he didn't really like himself; that he didn't like the solitary man he had become after her in order to keep himself safe. To keep what was left of his heart and sanity intact.

**"**You're right, I probably did all that.**"** she shook her head with a fake smile. **"**But Kaya gave me this book the other day. At some point it said **'**_Cruelty isn't a personality trait. Cruelty is a habit_.**'** Think about that…**"** she said and stood from her spot on the bed. **"**I'll stop by tomorrow to leave her bags.**"** she informed him and made her way out without waiting for a response. She knew he wouldn't suddenly forgive her and, if she was to be honest, she didn't really care about his forgiveness either.

She just hoped she hadn't, unintentionally this time, ruined yet another person… 

* * *

He sat by her side for hours, waiting —just waiting for a sign that she was still in there, in that body that now looked so much like an empty shell. And he felt helpless; more helpless than last year when he thought he was getting humanized or when he was about to die. He was worried, scared —scared that she wasn't coming back; and he still had so much to tell her, teach her. It was that very sad moment that it really crossed his mind how he hadn't really started talking to her for real, that he hadn't really taught her anything, he hadn't showed her anything, that they had just co-existed under the same roof and shared the same bed a few times.

Derek was used to loss, he knew it all too well; felt it more often than he felt joy. But she was too young to be lost and she was completely unharmed, at least physically, so why was she fading away? Why was she letting herself fade away from —from him, the world, he wasn't sure…

**"**Any change?**"** Peter asked handing his nephew another cup of coffee. He looked at Kaya worried; sure, he had spoken with Kate to get the story himself but the woman had told him nothing different than what she had told Derek. Which was surprisingly the truth, even she wouldn't lie when it came to this girl which was a miracle all on its own.

Derek sighed and ran his hand through his hair yet again. He had repeated this motion about a million times in the last few hours since Kate left. Had he not thoroughly examined Kaya for any wounds or even the slightest cut or injury, he would have still blamed the she-wolf that she had actually done something or that she hadn't taken care of the girl. But she had —which made the wait way worse for Derek because this time he had nobody to blame or hurt to unleash his anger. **"**No.**"** he sighed rubbing his eyes with his fists. **"**I don't know what to do…**"**

**"**Give her time…**"** Peter said and put a comforting hand on Derek's shoulder. He was right thinking that Kaya belonged to his nephew now, it was clear to him. He just hoped she was going to be fine. In the mean time, he had already made his move to help accelerate the process if that was even an option… 

* * *

**_"_**_I told Derek and I'm telling you again; I didn't do anything to her.__**"**__ Kate huffed over her cup without bothering to look up at him. They had spent almost a full hour talking about what happened over and over again but they were yet to reach a conclusion on why Kaya was still out cold._

**_"_**_I refuse to believe I'm saying this —and I will deny it if you tell anyone, but I actually believe you.__**"**__ Peter said and Kate lifted an eyebrow surprised. __**"**__Don't look at me like that; it's pretty obvious you actually like the kid.__**"**_

**_"_**_As do you.__**"**__ she pointed out and Peter huffed waving his hand._

**_"_**_I'll deny that too if word gets out.__**"**__ he said. __**"**__I need you to do something for her.__**"**__ he said leaning forward against the counter Kate was having her coffee at._

**_"_**_Name it and I'll see what I can do.__**"**__ she said evenly. Usually, when Peter Hale asked her for something, it involved bloodshed and murder or some basket case scenario that would most likely get her out of the pack's good graces and on their very short hit list._

**_"_**_I'm not sending you out to get killed.__**"**__ Peter paused. __**"**__I think.__**"**__ Kate looked at him intently and he continued. __**"**__From the moment you laid eyes on her you knew more.__**"**_

**_"_**_I'm not telling you a damn thing.__**"**__ she cut him off. She knew how it worked; the second she gave Peter what he needed she would be a lost cause, worthless and practically on death row. Thanks, but no thanks; she wasn't giving it up just yet._

**_"_**_I don't care about your stupid secret and sources.__**"**__ He said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He was curious, yes, but the time he'd get his answers would come soon —preferably when the girl in question wasn't in somewhat of a self induced coma. __**"**__Use your sources, whoever they are, and just tell me why she's like that. __**That**__ is all I want from you.__**"**_

_Kate took a moment to examine him before she replied; the Peter she knew usually had some hidden agenda but this time he seemed honest. His vital signs told her so as well —for the first time in the whole time they had known each other, Peter was completely honest with her. __**"**__Fine.__**"**__ she said but held up a finger. __**"**__First though, I want to know why you care so much about Kaya Blake's fate.__**"**_

_Peter shook his head. __**"**__Because Derek cares —and my daughter cares. And I am in the process of making amends...__**"**__ he sighed __**"**__And she made me breakfast.__**"**__ he half-heartedly admitted __**"**__Do you know what it's like for the most hated guy in town to get home one morning and find someone cooking for him? It feels homey, __**normal**__.__**"**_

_Kate nodded understanding. Kaya had killed a man for her and the very question she asked Derek earlier popped into her head __**'**__Can you imagine that love?__**'**__ She knew what the simple act meant to him, she realized that because during the short time she knew the teenager she had received nothing but kindness from her —even though the girl teased the living hell out of her. __**"**__I'll call you once I have something.__**"**_

**_"_**_Thank you.__**"**_

* * *

**"**Astral projection —she's in some self hypnosis state meets lucid dreaming.**"** Kate said as soon as Peter answered the phone.

**"**Uh-huh.**"** he replied cautiously since Derek was within earshot. **"**And?**"**

**"**Her mind is processing what happened.**"** Kate explained. **"**She's practically hypnotized herself somehow to work out in her mind all that happened; she's dreaming Peter, plain as that.**"**

**"**And?**"** he pressed her for a way to end this.

Kate barked out a laugh on the other end of the line. **"**She's fine, safe and healthy. Just let her sleep through the night and she'll wake up in the morning as she usually does.**"** Peter sighed relieved and Kate chuckled. **"**And, please, tell Derek to stop creeping over her, she's not going anywhere —at least for tonight.**"**

**"**Very funny.**"** Peter said and ended the call. Turning to Derek he clapped his hands together audibly to get his nephew's attention. **"**Kate Argent came through for us —again.**"** He said a lot more chipper than before.

* * *

_The man Peter was introduced to as Blake stood with his back turned to her, his eyes taking in the sight the Hale construction site presented though he didn't much care of what would become of the place. __**"**__I was surprised you called.__**"**__ he said with a smile but not really bothering to turn around and face her. __**"**__Rumor had it you were dead.__**"**_

**_"_**_Wouldn't you like that…__**"**__ Kate teased and walked up to him as he slowly faced her with a bright smile, throwing her arms around his neck. He returned the gesture by circling his arms tightly around her waist and going as far as smelling her hair for a second before she pulled away._

**_"_**_You know you were always my favorite Argent.__**"**__ he smiled. __**"**__But then again you're gorgeous and Chris isn't anywhere near my type.__**"**__ Kate slapped his arm playfully at that comment. __**"**__What can I do for you, Katherine?__**"**_

**_"_**_It's Kate.__**"**__ she corrected even though she knew he'd stick to that weird notion of his and keep calling her Katherine —her parents did that, but only when they were about to scold her. His using her full name was some weird form of endearment only he was aware of, and in all the years she knew him he had never explained to her why he called her that. __**"**__I know you're back for Kaya…__**"**_

**_"_**_Uh, so it's true.__**"**__ he exclaimed. __**"**__I heard rumors she was with your crowd but I never really thought you'd be there too.__**"**__ It was true, he had heard the rumors, rumors he never bothered sharing with his father among many other things. Sure, his father was important to him but the man had been losing his mind for years now. Sometimes he humored him and played along while others he kept his mouth shut and prayed the old man never found out the game he was playing. __**"**__Yes, I want the girl but for different reasons than my father does.__**"**_

_Kate threw her head back laughing, she didn't really believe him. Maybe he was honest, she didn't know, but his father was plain crazy and maybe he lost his mind too. __**"**__I take it you know what happened today.__**"**__ she said and he nodded. __**"**__She's passed out, has been for hours, and not waking up. We're worried…__**"**_

**_"_**_And you came to me for help. Risky move…__**"**__ Blake said with a small smile running his thumb across his lower lip to hide it. He thought about giving her a hard time before giving her the answer she came for but thinking about Kaya he refrained. __**"**__Her mind works differently than yours —or Peter Hale's for that matter. Whatever it is that's torturing her mind, she needs time to process it away from all of you.__**"**_

**_"_**_So she just put herself to sleep?__**"**__ Kate asked tilting her head to the side and Blake smiled._

**_"_**_You can say that.__**"**__ he chuckled. __**"**__We call it astral projection. Her mind has left her body and roams the astral plane looking for answers to ease her soul. She controls her dreams, the state she's at; she has taken whar she needs to mend her mind. Just give her some time and she'll wake up in a few hours brand new —serene and with all the answers she was looking for.__**"**_

**_"_**_How did she do it?__**"**__ Kate asked but the blond man gave her a look that said __**'**__you know the answer already__**'**__ so she just nodded. Without another word or so much as a goodbye Kate turned her back to him and started walking away. She got what she came here for, there was no need to stay and socialize more than she already had. They lived in dangerous times; she wasn't going to take any chances._

**_"_**_I meant what I said, Katherine.__**"**__ Blake said. __**"**__I'm not my father; I will __**not**__ hurt that girl. Ever.__**"**_

**_"_**_Why?__**"**__ Kate stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to face him but made no move to walk back closer to him. __**"**__Why do you care so much all of a sudden?__**"**_

**_"_**_She's Phil's kid!__**"**__ he exclaimed not knowing what else to say or what the right answer would be to her. She always had this twisted logic when it came to people and their motivation._

**_"_**_She's been that her whole life. So __**what**__ do you want from her, Doctor?__**"**__ Kate asked, insisting on getting an answer. It seemed to her that everyone wanted something these days and Kaya Blake was trapped in the very middle of it; some wanted things for her and some from her._

_Kate couldn't decide which one was the biggest tragedy for the girl._

**_"_**_I want what I always wanted.__**"**__ he said throwing his hands in the air. __**"**__I want the same thing I wanted for that girl and her mother since the first time I laid eyes on both of them; to be a family.__**"**_

_Kate chuckled shaking her head. __**"**__Yeah, good luck with that…__**"**__ she said and turned her back to the man walking away. This conversation lasted longer than she wanted it to and it was about time she called Peter._

* * *

**A/N: Any ideas which book Kaya gave Kate? And, of course, tell me what you think...**


	11. Chapter 11

**"**Did Scott tell you what happened at Deaton's yesterday?**"** Malia asked as she stopped to lean against Lydia's locker when she found her talking to Kira. Surprisingly, since Kaya got into their lives, Peter was reaching out to her a lot more often —as in calling or texting and paying her random visits she was quick to slither out of, and during one of those he filled her in on last night's incident. Both girls shook their heads and Malia sighed, one thing she had learnt for sure was that nobody liked the bearer of bad news. She believed there was a saying about shooting the messenger as well, but she wasn't quite sure. **"**They were waiting for Kate and Kaya there to pick up Peter.**"**

**"**Who are **'**_they_**'** exactly?**"** Lydia asked closing her locker with a loud slam and the blonde shrugged. She was getting pretty tired of all this, apparently there was no shortage on people wanting to kill one —if not all— of them.

**"**Are they okay?**"** Kira asked and seeing Malia's weird look she rephrased. **"**Kaya and Kate.**"** she still wasn't on best terms with Kate since the little stunt the she-wolf had pulled on her and Scott but since they were all in a truce she just opted to avoid her as much as possible. But Kaya, her, she really worried about.

**"**They're fine, I guess.**"** Malia shrugged. **"**They slaughtered like ten people.**"** she said and both girls looked at her oddly.** "**Well, Kate did most of the slaughtering but Peter said Kaya killed two guys too.**"** This time there wasn't much excitement in her announcement; those who had taken a life knew it was nothing to be excited about. It was a rather sad thing to happen to a person —unless you were Peter or Kate, they seemed to be fine with killing people.

**"**Should we go over to Derek's to see her?**"** Kira asked feeling that distinctive need of hers to comfort her friends. Derek probably wouldn't be too thrilled to have a horde of teenage girls in his house but maybe Kaya needed them.

Malia had already asked about that one. Sure, she hadn't been human for long but she had learnt pretty quickly that friends don't leave friends behind —ahem— and when you feel that one of your friends needs you, you should be there even if they haven't asked you to. **"**Peter said we can go after school.**"** she said and Lydia gave her a pleased smile, both that they were going and that Malia had been the one to take lead on making it happen.

Progress. 

* * *

Derek woke up surprisingly relaxed. He didn't need to open his eyes to know she was there; he could smell her semi-wet hair, feel her pressed to his side. He didn't need to open his eyes to know she was awake and looking at him. **"**Haven't they taught you starring is creepy?**"** he said in a mock serious tone but didn't really mean it. In fact he was happy she was there; awake, to be creepy with him like Kate told Peter he was being with her. **"**How long have you been up?**"** he asked popping an eye open slowly making her laugh.

**"**Enough to get cleaned up and find Peter making me pancakes. We didn't want to wake you…**"** she said grinning. For a guy who didn't eat breakfast, Peter sure knew how to make a full one. And she definitely appreciated the morning pampering. **"**He said I shouldn't go to school today too.**"**

**"**Agreed.**"** Derek nodded not ready to let her out of his sight just yet. Lifting himself up on his elbows he looked at her as she fell back on the mattress on her back. **"**Did you two leave anything for me?**"**

**"**Yeah, there's a plate ready with your name on it. Coffee too.**"** she said looking up at him, his large frame hovering a bit over her. He seemed relaxed but she noticed the worried look in his eyes too, like he was afraid something would suddenly happen or that she was suddenly going to vanish into thin air. **"**Hey, I'm okay.**"**

The light note in her voice and the small smile gracing her features made him smile a bit too. Without really realizing it, he lifted his hand and stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. **"**Don't scare me like that again.**"** he said quietly and closed his eyes. **"**I must have lost like ten years of my life last night, okay…**"**

**"**You look it.**"** She chuckled lightly. **"**But I'll try my best, promise.**"** In the short time they knew each other, she noted that she had never seen Derek so worried or insecure. She saw him begin losing his mind after the incident with Peter but even that was different; she couldn't quite place it but she knew it was. **"**I saw my dad last night, you know…**"**

**"**Oh yeah?**"** Derek asked and laid back on the bad pulling her close to him. A couple or so years back, such statements would have freaked him out but lately his tolerance towards the unexpected was surprising. Maybe he evolved in more ways than one… And if it made her happy, he wasn't going to throw any stones; and he knew for a fact she was happy about seeing her dad, even if it was just a dream, an illusion in her head, because that was exactly how he felt when he dreamt about his mother; happy, calm and understood. **"**What did you guys do?**"**

**"**We talked.**"** she chuckled knowing how weird that must have sounded. **"**About you, Peter, Kate and the pack; everyone. Apparently he likes you.**"** Kaya announced and Derek laughed a little. **"**What!? He said he does.**"**

**"**Well, next time you see him, tell him I like him too.**"**

Kaya huffed humorously. **"**You can't like my dad; you know nothing about him.**"** It was the most obvious thing to her, that in her dreaming state her dad felt about people the way she felt about them. The glint in Derek's eyes though told her he had an idea of his own.

**"**Well, I know you and I like you.**"** he announced. **"**You came from that guy so I like him too.**"**

**"**Yeah, that's what he said too…**"**

* * *

**_"_**_I killed two people today, daddy…__**"**__ Kaya said curled into a ball on her childhood bed. Her eyes were closed but she knew he was there; he was always there for her when she needed him._

**_"_**_I know, princess.__**"**__ Phil Blake sat on a chair at the foot of her bed looking at his daughter fondly yet concerned. In all the years he watched over her, from the limbo he was stuck in, never had he seen her look so depressed. __**"**__You did what needed to be done.__**"**_

**_"_**_Did I?__**"**__ she asked, opening her hazel eyes, unsure. If daddy said so then maybe it was true —maybe she did what she had to do to protect herself and Kate, who was risking her life to protect hers. Did she suddenly feel good about it? No. Never. But her dad, she knew, was a wise man and if he said there was no other way around for something to be done then he was usually right._

**_"_**_Of course you did.__**"**__ Phil ensured his daughter. __**"**__Sometimes, my princess, in life, good people do horrible things because it really is the only way to do something; because sometimes, there is no other option. Do you understand what I'm saying?__**"**__ he looked at her intensely._

**_"_**_Did the creepy one-eyed man kill you because he had no other choice?__**"**__ she asked hugging the plush toy she was holding a lot closer to her chest and bit her lip. She would never forget that day for as long as she was alive; the day her dad died. It was the first time she dreamt of him. And he had been there, every time she needed him, ever since._

**_"_**_No, baby. He killed me because he knew he couldn't keep himself at war with me forever. That if I got to live and keep you, one day I would grow too strong for him to beat. He eliminated the threat early.__**"**__ he said and moved to seat on the bed with her. __**"**__Because you —you would have made me stronger. You are my strength, all the power in me, baby. You're the one keeping me here.__**"**_

**_"_**_Where is __**'**__here__**'**__, dad?__**"**__ she asked and a tear escaped her eyes. She had her dad but only in her sleep, only in her time of need. But she needed him daily, in flesh; to drive her to school because she was a reckless driver and he'd be afraid she'd get herself killed, to give the boys she'd go out with the talk and glare at them till they were too scared he'd bury them in their backyard and water them along with his plants or tell her she looks pretty when she's insecure. She needed him to walk her down the damn isle one day and hold her kids. She needed her dad. Period._

**_"_**_I'm with you.__**"**__ he smiled and messed up her hair a little. __**"**__The place I'm at isn't exactly important. But I'm a lot closer than you think…__**"**__ he said cryptically and she looked at him oddly. __**"**__Don't worry, I didn't leave you, baby, I'm still dead…__**"**__ he laughed but stopped seeing the solemn look on her face __**"**__Sorry. That wasn't funny.__**"**_

**_"_**_It wasn't.__**"**_

**_"_**_Tell me about your new friends.__**"**__ Phil said clasping his hands together. He wasn't there to live life with her but he wanted to know all about her, his baby._

**_"_**_Mhhh…__**"**__ she thought __**"**__There's Derek and Peter, the guys I live with. They're werewolves.__**"**__ she said excited even though she had lived with werewolves before. __**"**__I like them you know. They're on each other's case all day, every day, but if someone tries to pull a funny one on them they'd kill for each other, I know they would.__**"**_

**_"_**_They're Hale men, aren't they?__**"**__ he asked and Kaya nodded. __**"**__I thought so. That family has a very colorful history… And now that Derek is a shifter too —well, a lot of people are going to come for him. So I need you to be careful.__**"**_

_Kaya chuckled. __**"**__Derek would never put me in danger, silly. He's protecting me, he cares.__**"**_

**_"_**_If you're sure about it...__**"**__ he said in a lingering tone but raised his hands in surrender __**"**__Who else?__**"**_

**_"_**_There's Malia, she's Peter's were-coyote daughter, and the rest of the pack. Scott is the Alpha, he took me on a ride with his bike once when people were stalking me, it was the coolest thing ever.__**"**__ she said acting like a fan-girl. __**"**__Stiles, his best friend, who's an awkward yet perfect human being, Lydia's a Banshee —she screams a lot and has signed me up for tutoring classes, which I skip all the time. Kira's a kitsune but I just call her Foxy to tease her. Oh and my cuddle-bear, Liam. Really dad, if Liam was a puppy I'd keep him forever.__**"**__ she said and Phil noted the happy glint in her eyes. __**"**__Oh and Mason; he's Liam's best friend, he's really nice, I'd keep him too.__**"**_

**_"_**_So it's two adults with eight teenagers.__**"**__ Phil raised an eyebrow. __**"**__How comforting…__**"**_

**_"_**_No.__**"**__ she said as if it was the most obvious thing and her dad had to know. __**"**__We have Scott's mom who's a nurse, Stiles' dad is the Sherriff, Parrish the badass deputy, the Argent hunter clan and don't let me forget the vet-slash-emissary, Deaton.__**"**__ she said and took a second to do the math in her head. __**"**__We're kind of a big crew.__**"**_

**_"_**_You are.__**"**__ Phil nodded. __**"**__But tell me more about the Argent hunters…__**"**__ he knew exactly who they were, all too well in fact, and this time they were in his kid's life; Phil had to know what they were up to now. Were Chris and Kate still blinded by Gerard or had they moved on from their past and family politics?_

**_"_**_Kate and Chris?__**"**__ she rose an eyebrow. __**"**__Chris is human, a hunter. His daughter, Allison, died last year.__**"**__ she said looking down a bit; she didn't know Allison Argent, but she felt deeply for the people who did. Death is never easy and it's worse when the departed is someone so young. __**"**__And then there's Kate; she was a hunter too but now she's a were-jaguar. She was there with me today, killed all those men for me…__**"**_

**_"_**_And you killed one for her too…__**"**__ Phil reminded his daughter softly and she nodded. __**"**__Let me tell you something, kiddo, I know who the Argents are; Chris is trustworthy.__**"**__ he paused. __**"**__Kate —she is nowhere near being altruistic, but mark my words when I tell you that she is someone you want to have on your side. And there are a million reasons for that.__**"**_

**_"_**_So what? You suddenly approve of my friends? Isn't that against the __**'**__parent guidebook__**' **__or something?__**"**__ Kaya teased._

**_"_**_If you like them, then I like them —because I know you.__**"**__ Phil said and leaned over to kiss his daughter's forehead._

* * *

Kaya couldn't remember being happier to be at school. After a lot of grilling on Kate and Peter's side and a lot of foot stomping on Lydia and Malia's case, Derek had finally caved and stopped being the overbearing wolf she assumed his nature called for him to be, letting her out of his sight. Of course he had forced Stiles swear on his life that he'd deliver her back at his door in one piece or else he'd rip his throat out with his teeth.

Stiles called him unoriginal. Derek was not amused.

Lacrosse practice was taking long enough to start getting on her nerves, but with five of her newly acquired friends on the team she had to put her grown up girl panties on and sit idly on the bleaches watching the coach yell at the team how incompetent they were. Well, Liam was generally getting praised but sometimes he took one for the team, pretending to suck as well. That made her laugh and, although she'd never get lacrosse, luckily Lydia was constantly by her side the entire day. The strawberry blonde girl sat by her, textbook in hand, and drew something that resembled a tree in an early stage with freakishly great detail; Kaya just huffed and answered the millionth text she got from Derek asking if she was okay.

Honestly, she didn't even think Derek knew how to text; let alone at such the speed.

A pained scream echoed in the field and everyone's attention snapped towards the center of it all, the team forming a circle around the apparently fallen member of the group. Lydia shrugged when Kaya looked at her questioning and they both moved to the field to see what had happened. Stiles shrugged noticing them there and Scott nodded that they should head off before the coach noticed them. **"**You two!**"** Too late, Coach already saw them. Stiles looked up giving an exasperated eye roll and looked towards the sky. **"**Make yourselves useful and take this dead meat to see a doctor. I have to coach the Dumb and Dumber league into being less pathetic.**"** he announced. **"**Greenberg! Get him out of my field for crying out loud.**"**

The girls looked at each other and shrugged. Liam sighed, Scott shook his head disapprovingly, Kira shrugged feeling sorry for them and Stiles face palmed. Yep, Derek was going to kill him… 

* * *

The freshman they had to nurse was a sweet kid, a little whinny, but okay in the generic sense of the word. They wouldn't bother hanging out with the teen and Lydia was sure not going to invite him to her next party because of their little bonding session over his twisted ankle, but he wasn't the worst company to be stuck with. Begrudgingly, Kaya texted Derek about the small change of plans so that Stiles wouldn't lose his head to that overprotective man and within seconds Melissa McCall was there offering them refreshers and chatting them up while they waited for the doctor to call them in.

While the girls talked to Melissa a nurse asked them in —great, now they suddenly became the adult party, thanks to the Coach!

A female doctor started giving them instructions on how to do this and that with the boy's bandaged ankle and Lydia took notes while Kaya found herself taking in the presence of the other doctor in the room. He was younger than the woman there, probably in his mid-thirties or something along those lines. He wasn't her type nor was she attracted to him or anything, but for some reason she couldn't place he seemed familiar and she couldn't help but keep her eyes on him. The weirdest part was that he was looking at her too; his green eyes —so familiar— were trained on her and he often ran a hand through his short sand-blond hair. He made a grimace that resembled a smile quite a lot, a dimple softening his otherwise sharp features; angular jaw, strong bridge on his nose, all very defined and manly. She was so mesmerized by that man that she zoned out of the doctor's instructions.

**"**Doctor Blake, could you call a nurse to take care of the rest?**"** the older doctor asked, which caught Kaya's attention. She turned to look at Lydia but found that the girl was already pestering the female doctor with more questions. The young doctor, Doctor Blake, turned to leave the room passing by her with a barely noticeable smile on his face.

Despite her better judgment, and clear instructions not to leave Lydia's sight, she followed the man out the room. **"**Doctor Blake?**"** she called out hesitantly and he turned instantly as if he was expecting her to follow. Oh god, he must think she was going to give him her number or something. **"**I'm sorry. My —my last name's Blake too and you look awfully familiar.**"**

The doctor smiled at her kindly, he had waited to have her so close for a long time. Oh, if only his father was there to see him standing within arms' reach from her, just talking to her… **"**Maybe we've met before and you just don't know it yet.**"** he chuckled and quickly extended his hand. **"**I'm Steven. Steven Blake.**"**

**"**Kaya.**"** she said shaking his hand with a newfound ease but at the same time discomfort regarding his little remark earlier. Thankfully, Steven gave her a full handshake and not the limp-wristed half shake some people gave her, squeezing three fingers as if she was too delicate to touch palms. **"**I'm sorry, this is just weird.**"** She laughed bringing her free hand to the roots of her hair —that was another weird thing; he was yet to release her hand.

Realizing he was still holding her hand, Steven released her quickly. **"**I'm sorry.**"** he laughed uncomfortably too, realizing he was coming off too strong to a girl he just been introduced to; but he was too damn excited to think straight, to calculate the aftermath of his words and actions. She was Phil's daughter for crying out loud, the daughter of the woman he had been passionately in love with since he first laid eyes on her —but never had the guts to tell her that bit. He had barely contained his excitement when he saw her in that room, his father was right. He could recognize her from a million girls; she looked so much like both her parents that it would be a joke not to know who she is. Realizing he was just starring at her, he took a step back not wanting to appear like the creepy older guy who drooled over a 17-year-old girl, but despite that he tore a piece of paper from a notepad he had in his pocket and scribed down his number and address. He needed her to know this, needed her to know she could find and go to him at any moment. **"**I'm not doing this in any inappropriate way, Kaya, you have my word. But if you're ever even remotely curious about what happened in there just —you'll find me here. I'll _always_ be available to you.**"**

Steven slipped the small paper in her palm and put a hand on her shoulder for only a moment before he left, but the small gesture unsettled her. What was he talking about? Who the hell was Steven Blake and why would he want to talk to her? More importantly though, why did she feel the need to talk to him? 

* * *

When Kaya returned to the loft barely an hour later, Lydia delivering her straight to the door, Derek all but tackled her to the floor and Peter sighed mumbling something that sounded a lot like **'**so much for being subtle**'**. She actually found it sweet that he was so worried; she never had anyone being worried about her so openly, let alone someone who looked like him and wrapped his arms around her at any given chance. Which was a lot considering they lived together. Not that she was complaining…

**"**I'm fine.**"** she said when she saw him checking her for wounds. **"**You're cute when you're worried.**"** She teased him stepping further into the loft to drop her bag and jacket.

**"**I'm not cute.**"** Derek frowned and crossed his hands to his chest. He was a werewolf —a fully shifting one too— he wasn't a poodle to suffice as **'**cute**'** or any other term of endearment people attributed to pets and babies. He would accept intimidating, sexy or even sour, but not cute; never cute. **"**I'm just worried.**"**

**"**You're cute.**"**

The second Kaya discarded her jacket on the couch; Peter was on his feet as if he was struck by lightning. Oh he didn't like this one bit. He knew this smell, it was a very distinctive smell only he knew and had secretly been trying to trace but failed. **"**Mid-thirties, green eyes, blond hair, just about my height…**" **he mused circling around Kaya, sniffing the air around her every once in a while and she looked at him completely freaked out.

**"**What are you talking about?**"** Derek asked moving close to them and tried to smell what Peter was apparently sniffing on her but failed miserably. Or at least he didn't find the smell of other people on her that interesting… Peter was describing a man, a man that could probably be her father solely based on the age difference —wait, had she met someone? Derek shook his head, he wasn't going to go on a full blown jealous wolf mode on her; he had made no claim on her, and she owed him nothing. He had no right to ask. But that didn't mean he was okay with the idea of a man that much older to be anywhere near her.

**"**You met Blake.**"** Peter said smugly. It wasn't anywhere near a question, it was a statement dangerously treading a very thin line towards accusation. Kaya took a few steps away from him and Derek suddenly stiffened, looking ready to protect the girl if he tried anything. **"**Don't worry, darling. I just want to know about Blake…**"**

**"**The doctor?**"** she asked still looking at him confused. Derek's body behind hers gave her a sense of certainty; that he was there so nothing was going to happen. She always felt safe around him and usually the same applied to Peter, but at the moment she didn't feel so sure… **"**His name —his name is Steven.**"** she stammered. How the hell did Peter know Steven Blake? She had just met the man herself. Could Peter know what he wanted to talk to her about?

**"**Steven…**"** Peter tested the name on his tongue. **"**Doctor Blake…**"** he mused. Of course, now it made sense. The doctor who practically tortured him had been referred to as Blake but had never clarified on whether that was his name, last name or whatever. **"**I'll be damned…**" **he gave that trademark grin of his that screamed **'**impending bloodshed**'**.

**"**Who is Steven Blake?**"** Derek asked cautiously, pulling Kaya a little more towards his body, discretely trying to push her behind him. **"**Why is it so important Kaya met him?**"**

**"**He was there.**"** Peter said simply, his face morphing into a smirk as he pulled on his jacket. **"**If you'll excuse me, I have to meet with the not-so-good doctor.**"** he announced and walked to the door not paying attention to his nephew and the mildly freaked out teen by his side.

**"**What…?**"** Kaya starting asking but the wheels quickly rolled in her head. By **'**there**'** he meant —oh god, Steven was there when Peter was tortured. He may have even tortured him himself. Grabbing the collar of Derek's shirt she looked at him pleadingly. **"**Please —I know this means war but I need him alive.**"** she looked at Derek intently, silently begging him to stop Peter. She wasn't naïve, Peter wasn't going there to talk with him, he was going to find and kill him and she couldn't have that. Not till she had her answers. **"**I just need a few hours with him, Derek. Please.**"**

**"**Don't ask me that.**"** He didn't understand what was going on and he hated it. All he knew was that this man, the man who had somehow managed to get to Kaya, had something to do with what happened to Peter. The pleading look on her face and the desperate note in her voice told him this was important to her, but getting answers about why he went after his family was also important. **"**I can't…**"** he stammered and she pulled away from him.

Derek wasn't going to help her. **"**You don't get it.**"** she raised her voice, feeling desperate. **"**You didn't see it —you weren't there. He's something to do with me, I know it...**"** How could she explain it to him, the magnetic pull Steven had on her, when she couldn't even explain it to herself? **"**He's so familiar…**"** she said giving up a bit. Suddenly it hit her, she had his number. Reaching for her jacket she looked through her pockets for her phone and that small piece of paper that could actually save his life. Finding it, she started dialing but Derek quickly pulled the paper out of her hand.

**"**What are you doing?**" **he exclaimed tearing it to pieces and she gasped. **"**Don't you see it? If you try to stop Peter his anger will turn on you!**"** he ran his hands through his hair. One way or another now he was in the middle of this —and he was going to disappoint one of them. He understood Peter's anger, his need for revenge because he felt it too. But understanding Kaya came harder this time; there was a chance the man had been honest in whatever it was that convinced her, but there was also a great risk —that he had lied to her and she was in danger. He wasn't going to risk her life on it… **"**Whether you're right or wrong about him you're going to get hurt. Either Peter or this Steven guy is going to hurt you.**"** he said, hands flying in the air in front of her face, his usually collected persona flying out the window. **"**I'm not risking your life over it.**"**

**"**Derek, please!**"** she begged, her voice breaking. She didn't know why but she felt it in her gut that she had to protect Steven even if it meant getting her into trouble with Peter. **"**Please…**"**

He ran his hand through his hair again pacing the floor close to her. He was torn. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and put her in a bubble where nothing could hurt her, where her life wasn't what they were risking by making the wrong call. **"**I… Stay here, I have to go…**"** he said, his head confused and walked away from her, locking the door behind him securing that she wasn't going anywhere. Yes, he was going to the hospital certain that this was where Peter went.

But was he going to stop or help him? That he didn't know yet.

**"**Derek!**"** she screamed after him. **"**Derek, please!**"** she kept screaming as she banged her fists against the door. **"**Please…**"** she kept repeating that as she slid down the door, tears starting to flow down her face. There had to be something, someone that would help her…

And it all came down to that one person.


	12. Chapter 12

She had given up on waiting by the cold steel door long before the apex predators of the house decided to return to the bat-cave. Was there even any point? It was like a waiting room scene; waiting, praying, doing absolutely nothing that could actually and practically help fix the situation. In all honesty she was drained emotionally knowing there was a huge chance she failed at protecting someone. People had been trying to protect her for a very long time now but when it was her time to ensure someone else would live to see another day she had most likely failed.

Miserably.

She didn't even know why she cared so much to protect Steven; she knew nothing about him other than what he did for living and that they shared a last name. Derek could be right for all she knew, it could have been a sham to lure her in, wherever that **'**in**'** was —but what if it wasn't? What if Steven knew more about her than she did about herself? She had spent hours hoping, praying that by some miracle she'd come to know either way…

Derek could hear the shower running when he unlocked the door and let himself in, Peter and Kate in tow; all three of them covered in blood and chunks of their clothing were hanging after being ripped off while in battle.

Of course Kaya had called Kate to the rescue; he didn't know whether to feel proud of the girl's quick thinking and ability to come up with a back-up option or feel betrayed that she had so little faith in him as to feel she had to do so. He chose to ponder over it later as he unceremoniously shrugged off yet another ruined leather jacket. Without much of a word to the others, he shrugged off his well-torn shirt and moved towards the bathroom the teenage tenant of his house was currently occupying.

Kate shook her head disapprovingly of what Derek was doing, violating Kaya's privacy in the shower, but didn't say a word about it. Instead she gave Peter one last look of disgust —a reminder of their olden ways— and moved towards the semi-broken wall she knew was supposed to be Kaya's room since she moved in with the Hale men. Taking in the space a bit she smiled a little at the effort the younger male of the house had put into this and pulled the duffel bags the girl had first come in with from under the bed.

It was time to move her out of there.

Inside the bathroom, Derek sighed looking the girl standing under the spraying showerhead with a hand against the tiled wall, her head bowed down. She was a beautiful sight and heart wrecking at the same time. Kicking off his boots, he ran a hand across his face and through his hair and with very slow, almost uncertain, steps he joined her under the spraying water. Immediately sensing his presence there, Kaya's head snapped up to see his face. He took in the relieved glimmer in her eyes to see him safe and he almost felt like dropping down on his knees to beg for her forgiveness and comfort. Before she had the chance to utter a single word, Derek put his hands on her face and brought her closer to rest his forehead against hers.

For a few moments he allowed himself to be bare and vulnerable in front of her; there was no strong façade put forward and she was so mesmerized by the side of him she was seeing that very moment that she really didn't notice. She didn't see the blood washing down the drain beneath her feet. **"**Are you okay?**"** she whispered and he nodded. **"**What hap—?**"** she didn't get to finish her question about Steven and Peter because of a pair of lips covering hers gently, silencing her. She had been kissed before, but never like that. It wasn't urgent but it was soulful; as if by kissing her Derek was trying to convince her to stay with him, as if he was trying to show her he cared. That he would somehow move mountains to keep her safe by his side. It was as if he was making a promise.

And even when they both pulled away for air he just held her against him, kissing her hair like he did when he held her before they fell asleep. He made no move to take it any further, he just held her in his arms till the water became too cold for her to take. Surely, she was naked and he was only dressed in jeans, but it was nothing vulgar what happened in that shower. And not once did he try to look at her naked body, not even when he wrapped her in a towel to dry.

He could not. Not when he was about to lose her.

* * *

**_"_**_Hello Doc.__**"**__ Peter said smirking, his back casually leaning against a column in the hospital's private underground parking, arms crossed to his chest. He didn't really have to wait for him to show up, since Steven Blake —Steven, the different name still was weird for him to grasp— was very punctual as he came to notice. __**"**__Remember me?__**"**_

_Steven looked at him a bit surprised for a second but then chuckled. He was expecting this visit, in fact he was surprised it had taken Peter this long to find him —it wasn't like he was trying to hide anyway. __**"**__You actually smelled me on her, didn't you? I'm honored you remembered.__**"**__ he half-taunted Peter. Yes, Kaya lived with werewolves, so it was only natural that Peter would eventually smell him on her. He had tempted fate by holding her hand too long or by touching her clothed shoulder. He wasn't exactly being cocky, but he knew that if he wanted to he could end Peter Hale's life in the blink of an eye; instead he just unlocked his car door and threw his briefcase inside._

**_"_**_Aren't you a little too casual for a dead man…__**"**__ Peter mused taking deliberately slow steps towards the blonder man; he was the apex predator between the two and he knew so. And now Steven had no wolfsbane injections at hand to subdue him with or chains and cages to contain him. Steven's light chuckle angered Peter even more. __**"**__Do not underestimate me, doctor.__**"**_

**_"_**_I don't. Really.__**"**__ Steven said taking a few steps closer to Peter, their even height making them look at each other right in the eye. He knew eye contact was a serious no-no with angry predators. It meant __**'**__I am not afraid of you. I will take your food and your dignity and there's not a damn thing you can do about it__**'**__ but he had a point to prove; he really wasn't afraid of Peter Hale. Because, even in the event of his demise, there was a plan B ready to be executed. A greater purpose to be served. __**"**__Aren't you even curious?__**"**_

**_"_**_About?__**"**_

**_"_**_Why I let you live…__**"**__ Steven smiled.__** "**__And, of course, who do you think left your cage open, Mister Hale?__**"**__ Steven shook his head knowingly, oh there were so many things the man in front of him had never bothered thinking through and even more he had no idea about. Talking to an ignorant man was almost as amusing as playing Scrabble with an illiterate one; a complete waste of his time. __**"**__Had I wanted you dead, believe me, we would not be having this conversation…__**"**_

**_"_**_Is that a threat?__**"**__ Derek said coming from behind Steven. He was there. But even in that very moment he hadn't decided what to do with the man in front of him; kill him or help him. On one hand was Peter, his family, who had been attacked by that man and his people and retribution was in order. And then there was Kaya Blake, whose pleading cries were still ringing in his ears; the girl who had him wrapped around her little finger without even trying, and she was asking for him to be spared._

**_"_**_Merely a fact.__**"**__ Steven said, not even mildly disturbed by another man's sudden appearance. __**"**__Derek, I presume.__**"**__ he smirked turning back slightly to look at him. Derek made slow deliberate circles around him like predator, he noticed. He could see what both Kate and Kaya saw in him at some point in the younger man's life; he had that dark and dangerous look, he wore it quite well too. Had he been a lesser man he might have felt jealous of the younger shifter._

**_"_**_You got past all of us.__**"**__ Derek said and paused to stand next to his uncle. He decided this was the best position to either attack or defend him. Which __**'**__him__**'**__ though, was still debatable. __**"**__You got to Kaya.__**"**_

**_"_**_Actually she came to me.__**"**__ he corrected. __**"**__I was perfectly content with just being in the same room as her, looking at her.__**"**__ Steven paused realizing how perverted that came out. __**"**__She came to me, Derek, because unlike you and your species, she has a higher sense of understanding —of recognizing the world and the people in it for who and what they are. But she doesn't know that yet of course…__**"**__ he chuckled._

**_"_**_And you want to show it to her, right?__**"**__ Derek huffed not even remotely amused by the idea._

**_"_**_Should she choose to come with me; yes.__**"**__ Steven said smirking. In all honesty he was amused by Derek Hale and his oh-so-profound protectiveness over Kaya Blake, the girl who needed protection from nobody. If only she knew how to handle herself and talents that is… __**"**__Oh Derek, don't you see it; she belongs to you just as much as she belongs to me. Not even slightly.__**"**_

_Peter stood idly there, watching the exchange of words between the two younger men. He was mildly tempted to let the man live just to see where he was going with all this fanfare and endless taunting towards his nephew and his infatuation with the girl who seemed to be the center of everything going awry in their lives lately. He knew Derek had expected him to blow the damn casket first but the reality of their situation was different. —It was Derek who threw the first punch at the not-so-good doctor's gut and then all hell broke loose._

_Steven Blake had more strength than any of them expected from a man who appeared to be nothing but a mere human with skilled hands and a medical degree. Punches were thrown, claws came out in the frenzy of the fight their limbs became entangled, losing all coherence of who was fighting against who. In that very moment gunshots rang through the air. __**"**__Uh, my favorite Argents are here.__**"**__ Steven exclaimed with an all-too-casual smile on his face seeing Kate and Chris cocking their shotguns once more, his hand effectively inside Peter's stomach while Derek's elbow pressed against his throat._

_If any of them thought that with the Argents on the scene the battle would halt then that person would be terribly conceited. Without a second thought Kate's face shifted as she threw herself on Derek, knocking him away from Steven. He and Peter on the other hand kept fighting each other while Chris kept firing shots at all of them to make them stop.— It was times like this he felt like he was the only sane one among their small group of adults._

_From the small gulps of pain he could tell he had effectively wounded everyone in the were-something crowd at least once but none of them actually stopped. They were all battle crazed and there was no stopping them till blood was spilled._

_A sudden gasp of pain echoed through the parking lot and everyone stilled. Peter's hand was securely inside Steven's chest, on the side of his heart. __**"**__Kath…__**"**__ he tried to talk loudly but he couldn't __**"**__Save her.__**"**__ he muttered to the she-wolf and she nodded, claws in the air above Derek's face. Turning to Derek he smirked as blood ran down his lips. __**"**__You lose…__**"**__ he said and Peter pulled his hand suddenly out of the man's chest, his heart at hand before dropping it to the ground._

_Kate gasped and ran toward the lifeless body that lay on Peter's feet and tried to fight back the tears that welled up in her eyes as she pulled the man's body to her lap. Her face morphed back to normal as unexpected tears streamed down her face and another gunshot rang through the air._

**_"_**_Keep your claws off my family.__**"**__ Chris called out and Kate turned to see he had taken a shot at Peter's arm that was ominously raised over her head, claws still extended. __**"**__You took this too far this time. Both of you.__**"**__ He said looking at Peter with his usual full of hatred look but soon turned to look at Derek with disappointment. He expected more from the younger werewolf._

_Both Hale men moved away from the body, as if not wanting to be associated with it any longer and Derek felt Steven Blake's last words sink in. He failed her. He let his anger blind him, the thought of the man insinuating something about Kaya choosing him hadn't left him much room to judge whether it was inappropriate or a mere hint at something he had no idea of… She had practically begged him to stop Peter and instead he was the one to initiate the fight. He lost her… __**"**__Who is he?__**"**__ he asked slowly, growing more uncertain he wanted to know every single time he turn to look at the body of the man Kate was cradling against her battered body._

**_"_**_It makes no difference now.__**"**__ Chris said kneeling by his sister, and took a handkerchief out of his pocket collecting the man's discarded heart from the ground. __**"**__He's gone.__**"**__ He didn't turn to look at Derek again, he felt as disappointed as he did when he realized what his own sister had done to the boy's family. Like he would have felt had the man been his own child and betrayed the principals he had infused in him; Derek could be a great man and Chris expected more of him. Maybe that was his mistake._

**_"_**_He was Phil Blake's older brother.__**"**__ Kate said coldly her eyes moving between Peter and Derek who both became a few shades more pale. They had just killed Kaya's uncle; the last relatively sane member of her paternal family._

* * *

The air felt oddly thick when Kaya got out of the bathroom wrapped up in a towel, Derek closely behind her. She noticed Peter covered in blood sitting on the couch drinking whiskey from the bottle, his gaze effectively locked with the floor when he wasn't throwing back large gulps of fire water. A few seconds later Kate emerged from what was supposed to be her room, her duffle bags at hand. She looked at the older woman oddly, especially noticing that she was wearing a set of her own clothes.

Oh god…

**"**Go get dressed, baby.**"** Kate told her softly putting the bags down as Kaya took slow steps away from Derek and towards her. It had all started clicking in her mind, Kate knew. **"**We're leaving.**"** she said and tenderly ran a hand down the girl's cheek as she nodded her head regrettably, confirming Kaya's worries and fears.

Kaya nodded back at her numbly and left the room quickly, retreating behind the wall to find the change of clothes Kate had left on the bed for her. She leaned her back against the small closet and covered her mouth with her palms as tears for a man she didn't know began flowing and muffled screams escaped her. Peter killed him —or was it Derek? She didn't know what to believe; not that it mattered. She had failed Steven and now he was gone for good… Taking a few seconds to herself and a deep breath she decided she had to pull herself together, get the hell out of that loft. Picking up the clothing items left on the bed for her she felt herself getting colder inside with each piece she put on.

**"**She begged you to stop it, Derek…**"** she heard Kate's voice. But there wasn't anger or judgment in it, just what she perceived as disappointment. And she had never expected to hear Kate talk to him like that. **"**I didn't want it to come to this, you know.**"**

Coming out of her room she cleared her throat to make her presence known and picked up one of the duffle bags while Kate took the other one. Kaya didn't stop to look at the men in the room, but Kate did. **"**I'll take care of her.**"** she promised even though Kaya was starting to doubt they even cared. Betrayal did that to a person. Reaching her at the open door a moment later, Kate threw the bag over her shoulder and closed the door before putting a hand around the girl's shoulder. **"**It's you, me and Chris now…**"** Kate told her and kissed the girl's head tenderly as they waited for the elevator.

**"**I —I'm sorry.**"** Peter said in a barely audible whisper as the door closed behind the two females. He didn't mean to hurt Derek, he didn't mean to hurt the kid; he just did what he always did, jumped head-first without thinking of the consequences. And this time, maybe one of the very few that is, he truly was sorry.

**"**So am I…**"** Derek said in the same resigned tone. He wasn't mad at Peter, no. All Peter knew was anger and revenge and that's what he went there to get; he was the one that let his mind blur and failed Kaya. For a second there he felt grateful Kate hadn't told her right there and then that Steven was her family and not some fraud, that she was going to take care of the girl out of some obligation to a dying man or whatever the hell it was that made her so eager to claim responsibility over the girl.

Maybe Kate would do better than them; keep Kaya safe, give her a home, make her feel happy and normal like a girl her age should feel no matter what world she lived in. Maybe Kate and Chris would treat her like family; give her an even brighter future than the one the real Argent daughter was supposed to have before the family moved to Beacon Hills.

But a second later it hit him hard; he had just trusted Kaya's life to his worst enemy.

Oh hell…


	13. Chapter 13

Phone positioned between his ear and shoulder Chris made the final arrangements to clean up yet another mess caused by werewolves; he always did what had to be done in cases like this. However, at times, he found himself wondering whether his father had been right every time he tried to push him towards massacre —then he'd remember his daughter and halt. **"**I appreciate your help, Araya, gracias.**"** he mumbled.

The body of one Steven Blake was to be sent to Mexico that very same night for maintaining and, above all, safe keeping under the care of the Calavera family.

His family's renewed alliance with them had proved to be one of the smartest decisions he had made in the past couple of years and all they had asked in return was his word that Kate would comply with the Hunter Code and not kill unless she absolutely had to; they were reasonable even at that. For old times' sake he supposed. And if Kate didn't follow the rules she would be put down by her own brother's hand —hard as it may be for him, he knew it was a fair request.

Quickly ending the call he made sure to check if everything was in place. After fixing a few details till he was pleased, he moved to the small corner fireplace and gently picked up a frame. It was a picture of his family; himself, Victoria, Allison and Kate. **'**Chris and his girls**'** Kate had teased him after the picture was taken. Sighing he ran his fingers over Allison's face. **"**You have to know I'm not replacing you. I just —you would want this too if you were here...**"**

Chris looked around his apartment. A couple of years ago he had a house that buzzed with life every second of the day but that slowly died along with its residents. Losing Kate first and Victoria shortly after that had taken a toll on him; it allowed room for his father to come in to their lives once more and fill his and Allison's heads with hate and anger. See how far that got Gerard, rotting away in a hospital with no visitors unless they had something to gain from him. And just as everything was falling into place again, his baby died. Losing a kid was what broke him inside permanently and having to hunt down his resurrected sister only worsened the pain. Now they lived in what was the home of two broken siblings who tried to fix themselves and the relationship they once had.

But in a little while Kate was bringing Kaya over, to stay.

He had seen what her presence had done for Peter and Derek, so he only hoped she'd have the same effect on him and his sister. And in return he would protect her with his life, he'd give her the life he had always wanted to give his own daughter and he'd never let anyone harm her in any way. Yes, Allison would want that. In fact, in his mind, his daughter would have really liked the girl —she'd want him to take her in and provide for her like a father would. And if she was there she'd share stories with her, become the best friend the girl could ever have and she'd help her train, teach her the way of the hunters the way she had dreamt of it being. Hunt as to protect, not hurt.

The sound of the doorbell snapped him out of his daydreaming about Allison and he slowly placed the picture back in its place, giving the memory of what used to be his family a soft smile. **"**Hey kid.**"** he greeted opening the door widely and took the bag from Kaya's hand as she responded with a barely audible **'**hi**'**. He wondered what Kate had told her but opted not to voice it just yet, they'd have time to talk later. Taking the other bag from Kate's hands he looked at her a bit judgingly. **"**Are you wearing Kaya's clothes?**"**

**"**Hey, you saw mine, I had to.**"** the blonde responded with a slight smile. Her sweet brother —no matter how badly they hated each other twice a month they would always somehow love one another, tease and be a family. **"**I'll set a room for Kaya and then shower and everything.**"** she shrugged, her heightened senses telling her she reeked of blood and death —and that wasn't a smell she wanted on herself around the young girl.

**"**I'll take care of her, you go shower.**"** Chris said, putting a hand on Kaya's back and led her down the hallway. **"**You stink!**"** he called out to his sister over his shoulder and Kaya chuckled while Kate protested but went to do as told. Chris led Kaya to a room at the end of the hallway and opened a white door letting Kaya go in first.

She looked around in the room. The large panel bed between two floor-to-ceiling windows, the wall closet and the small details such as the painted wooden nightstands and the vanity. **"**This was Allison's?**"** she asked turning to look at him, voice caught in the back of her throat, and he nodded leaving her bags by the door. **"**I…**"**

**"**If you say you can't stay here I'm going to be seriously pissed.**"** He said in a light tone walking in. **"**You have no idea how long it took me to clean the place up and fix the room.**"** Or how long it took him to embrace that someone else was now going to be staying in his baby girl's room. **"**Allison wouldn't mind.**"** he said encouragingly for both their sakes and she nodded as if to accept his offer.

**"**She must have been pretty awesome; from what I hear about her, I mean.**"** Kaya said softly. Maybe bringing up the man's dead daughter wasn't the smartest idea she ever had, especially since she never met her, but she felt the need to tell him that. She knew it must have hurt him like hell letting someone else in his daughter's personal space but there they were. She had to give him something in return and since she didn't have much, the truth would have to cut it. **"**I'm sure I would have liked her.**"**

**"**She would have liked you too.**"** Chris said with a small yet honest smile. **"**Now —make yourself at home. Mine and Kate's rooms are right next to yours and I'm sure if you walk around you'll find the rest.**"** Kaya smiled at him in a **'**thank you**'** manner and he returned it before he turned his back and closed the door behind him.

With a sigh Kaya began opening drawers, weirdly finding them half-full of clothes and items that could only have once been Allison's. _Weird_; Chris said he had fixed the room. Trying not to disturb anything, she started emptying her bags and placed her things in any spare place she could find in the closet or the drawers. She guessed she'd have to ask him about it later, but she wasn't really looking forward to that. She knew what losing someone meant, what it did to a person, and she was sure Chris wasn't really copying all that well judging by the amount of stuff he kept as mementos of his daughter. Hell, from what she could tell he had kept her entire room untouched.

She almost felt unholy being in that room.

**"**How's the move-in going?**"** Kate poked her head in from the door, her blonde hair still damp.

**"**I don't know…**"** Kaya sighed. **"**Allison's stuff is still here, I thought Chris would have— I don't know…**"** she trailed off. He would have done what; thrown them away, donate or lock them someplace? No. She didn't know what she thought would have happened to the other girl's possessions. **"**I don't know if or what I'm supposed to do with them…**"**

**"**If he left those in here, it means he wants you to use them.**"** Kate said softly and casually took a seat on the bed. Allison was still a sore subject for her and it would cut deep till the day she died. **"**Chris was really close to Allison, closer than most fathers are to their teenage daughters. Leaving her stuff here for you means something.**"**

**"**What?**"** Kaya asked and took a seat next to Kate. She was curious as to why she and Chris were so ready to take her in, let her fill in for Allison in a way. Maybe they thought this was a second chance for them or something; Lydia once told her that Kate had tried to kill them all in some sort of weird retribution for her niece's death. Maybe helping her and saving her life was a way of honoring her or making amends for not being able to save her.

**"**It means he accepts and wants you here. It means you're one of us now; an Argent.**"** she said with a proud grin and Kaya raised an eyebrow. **"**Blood or association —it's all the same for us now.**"** Kate cleared her throat and waved her hand to lighten the mood a bit. **"**We want to help you, Kaya, really. We want you to be safe and happy… So Chris and I talked about it and, if you're up for it, we want to teach you the hunters' way."

**"**Hunters' way?**"** Kaya asked confused. **"**You mean the Code? As in I'll have to hunt down werewolves? Cause that's a big no-no for me…**"**

**"**You'll never **_have to_** do a thing, but knowing the Code —knowing how to defend yourself— will help you survive and help others too. Maybe it'll help you get closer to who you are.**"** the blonde said with a soft encouraging tone.

**"**Can I trust you, Kate? Like, _really_ trust you, with my life?**"** Kaya asked. It was one of the first things she learnt about Kate; that she knew stuff about her, that she was unreliable and a wildcard. But her dad had told her that Kate Argent was someone she wanted on her side and she believed him above anyone else —even if he was a figment of her imagination or conscience. So which one was she; the friend or the foe? After putting so much of her faith on Derek she wasn't sure of how reliable her judgment was…

The older woman placed a hand over the girl's and smiled. **"**I know you've spent all this time with Derek and Peter and the kids so you know my story; and I know I'm not the best person in the state of California, or Mexico for that matter, but…**"** she shook her head trying to find the right words. **"**Yes, you can trust me.**"**

Kaya nodded. **"**I know you know things about me; more than I do. And, I'm not going to lie, it pisses me off. There are things I need to know to survive, you know?**"** chuckling she just asked the most harmless question she could think of at that moment, the one that had led them to that very moment. **"**Who was Steven Blake?**"**

The older woman sighed. **"**Steven is— uh, he was a weird guy. Yeah, weird is fitting…**"** she lay back on the bed and patted the spot next to her for Kaya to do the same. Once the girl complied she continued. **"**He was your dad's older brother, but I'm sure you felt that deep inside —I knew it from the way you begged me on the phone to go help him…**"** She didn't know what else to say, how much Kaya was ready to know and how much she was ready to share too. **"**I was younger than you are now when I met them; your family.**"** she said simply.

**"**You know my mom too?**"** Kaya asked unsure shifting around to look at the blonde woman in the eye. For the first time in her life she was so close to someone who knew every part of a story she knew practically nothing about. How she felt about this, she had no idea yet. But she suddenly knew why Kate was so eager to protect her come what may; she was loyal to her family. Her mom, her dad —she didn't know and nor did she care. But she was loyal to them for some reason and apparently that loyalty extended to her as well.

**"**I know who she is…**"** Kate nodded. **"**But she is not someone either of us is ready to talk about just yet.**"** she said giving Kaya a pointing look and the girl nodded unwillingly. No, Kaya's maternal ancestry was a subject Kate wasn't sure she'd be ready to touch any time soon, or ever if she could help it. Though she wasn't sure it was an option anymore, not when Kaya had become a permanent fixture in her life. **"**Steven on the other hand; oh that boy was wild in the best and worst way possible. His own dad was afraid of him, of how volatile he could be. But I can promise you one thing, little one; today was not the last time you saw Steven.**"**

**"**What is that supposed to mean?**"**

**"**There are things I can teach you, things that might actually get me killed if I do.**"** Kate laughed humorlessly. She was in a mental debate on who would try to kill her first if she started teaching Kaya stuff; Chris, Derek or Peter? **"**But it all comes down to how far you're willing to go, how much you trust me.**"**

Suddenly alarms went off in her head and she felt as if she was about to be used, there was this doubt Kate's words planted in her. She was sure the woman meant to do the exact opposite but she had failed, Kaya was actually starting to doubt her. But at the same time she remembered what her dad had said to her in that dream; Kate was someone she wanted on her side. Taking a deep breath she answered. **"**As long as you tell me the truth about what's going on, I trust you. But so help me God, Kate, if I find out you're using me for another one of your tricks…**"**

**"**You're fierce.**"** Kate laughed. **"**And here I was starting to think that living with Derek and all the lovey-dovey domestic stuff going on had soften you up...**"** she said standing from the bed and pinched the tip of the girl's nose. **"**Dinner's ready.**"** she called over her shoulder and left the room before Kaya had the time to deny or confirm a thing.

* * *

**"**You killed her uncle. Awesome.**"** Stiles said throwing his hands in the air. **"**He killed her uncle.**"** he repeated to no-one in particular as per usual. In all honesty, he wasn't even surprised when someone called to tell him Peter killed someone. If he had a dollar for every time that happened…

**"**Thank you for stating the obvious.**"** Peter replied sarcastically yet in a monotone way. He wondered why Derek always called the kids over and at that very moment the last thing he needed was the condescending looks his daughter and her newly turned ex-boyfriend were giving him. **"**For what it's worth, if Kate had said something…**"**

**"**You still would have killed him.**"** Malia interrupted him shaking her head. Who was he kidding? He would have killed the man just as fast, if not faster. Sure, Steven Blake had obviously tortured him —and she wanted his head on a stick too, surprisingly— but for once Peter could have faked superiority and let him see a few more dawns. She sighed. Great, her dad killed her friend's uncle. Just as she thought she could have a friend who hadn't been personally victimized by him…

**"**He is dead now, that's not going to change…**"** Peter sighed but paused quickly. **"**Oh hell, wait, it's Beacon Hills, the town where **'**yolo**'** doesn't really apply.**"** he threw his hands in the air and Malia looked at him oddly.

**"**You only live once.**"** Stiles explained to her but quickly turned to point a finger at the older man. **"**And you better hope —pray— he doesn't come back as another bloodthirsty kickass were-skunk or something cause I'm not running all the way to Mexico again because another one of your creations went ballistic.**"** When Peter glared at him Stiles huffed.

**"**I ripped his heart out. He's not turning into anything.**"** Peter said as if to reassure them it was all good.

The whole time Derek sat there quiet, listening as the kids berated Peter on yet another stupid kill. He didn't care about that, he was sure Peter was going to kill Steven from the start. He didn't even blame him to begin with, which was pretty terrible of him. He was just worried about her; Kaya. **"**She's with Kate.**"** he said simply and the room went quiet. **"**She may have been on our side lately but we all know better than trusting her. Kaya doesn't.**"** he sighed. He saw the bluntest example of it a few hours prior to this meeting, when Kate Argent came in to be the rescuing party; what a joke that had been… A punch in the gut but it was still a travesty considering how terrible the woman generally was.

Yet, belittling what Kate had tried to do for Kaya made him feel worse about himself instead of better. Because had he risen to the occasion, the she-wolf's presence wouldn't have been needed there to begin with.

**"**Can we still trust Argent at least?**"** Malia asked. She had watched Scott, and even Derek himself, rely on the man's help a lot of times since she had been with them and he always came through for them. Plus the stories she heard from Lydia and Stiles about him had somewhat ensured her that he was a fair and honest man, even when it backfired at him.

**"**I know he will protect her. Above all, Chris Argent is a hunter —and he honors Allison's Code.**"** Derek said trying to remind and even convince himself a little. **"**Nous protégeons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protéger eux-mêmes.**"**

**"**What does that mean?**"** Malia asked again with a sigh. Despite Lydia's best efforts, her French was still an insult to France.

**"**We protect those who can't protect themselves.**"** Derek answered mechanically. **"**And Kaya falls into that category; whether the predator after her is your average psycho or an Argent like Kate.**"**

* * *

She thought living with Chris and Kate would be awkward but, at least for the first few days she spent there with them, she actually had the time of her life. Chris made sure her staying there was okay with the State, and since he was a law-abiding citizen —at least on paper, which was hilarious if one paid some mind to it— Beacon state was more than happy to let him handle her. And he asked all the right questions; like how she supported herself since she got out of the system or her plans for the future, which she had none but even then he said they'd **'**fix that**'**.

—Apparently he had plans of sending her to college or something because when he said that Kate had laughed in the most affectionate way she ever heard the woman do. Supernatural and stalkers aside, the Argents were trying to give her a good and normal life. And they were damn great at it.

School was normal as always and the girls had squeezed her shoulder sympathetically the first day she moved while the boys took turns in offering to kill Peter —after lunch they switched to planning Kate's murder if she tried pulling her leg. Which was funny because, for the peaceful crowd, they sure suggested murder a lot. And then there was Derek. Insert deep sigh. That man didn't know how or when to back down. He waited there, everyday; on the parking lot, the lacrosse field, sometimes outside her class. Damn it, Derek. He was there every day. And when he wasn't she knew she'd find him waiting for her outside the building. It was frustrating, but of course Kate found it hilarious.

Chris on the other hand was contemplating shooting his ass.

**"**Please**"** he said jumping in front of her as she walked towards her last class for the day. He was sleepless, tired. She hadn't spoken a word to him in three days —which was probably a win in her books— and for some weird reason it made him uneasy inside. Oh, who was he kidding? He missed having her around and her smell was starting to fade from the pillows; not to mention knowing she lived under the same roof as Kate was reducing his sanity in the speed of light. He tried to look good, surprise her —well, that took a very stalkerish turn but he couldn't help it.

**"**No.**"** she shook her head and looked down trying to avoid looking at him. She knew, Malia made sure, that he was sorry and that he was worried about her, but he didn't have to be. Chris and Kate were taking care of her now, she was safe. She knew he was standing right behind her when she stopped and she sighed, slowly flexing the muscles of her neck. **"**What do you want from me, Derek?**"**

Using his name for the first time in days was all the permission he needed to grab her arm and pull her in the janitor's closet with him. He noticed she gasped a bit but she didn't try to protest and his ego was suddenly boosted a little bit. **"**I'm sorry.**"** He said keeping one hand on her arm while the other traveled up to her face. **"**I know I let you down and I know you're mad at me…**"**

Kaya sighed cutting him off. **"**I'm not mad at you, Derek…**"** she took a step away from him and started looking around. She wasn't mad at him, even though she should be. The past days had been a revelation to her, really. Kate had gone as far as advocating for him, saying he was jealous and scared of losing her. She had doubted the woman then but seeing the dark circles under his eyes, circles even those precious werewolf genes of his couldn't cover to save face, she realized maybe Kate was right; maybe the woman saw something more than she did. **"**I'm disappointed. And confused.**" **She mumbled turning her back to him, faking interest in tonner card box.

**"**You're not mad.**"** he repeated breathing easier. She wasn't mad at him, yet she was still avoiding him. He closed the space she had put between them in a single step and circled his arms around her waist, his chest to her back, and breathed in the scent of her hair. Oh how he missed her smell. **"**Don't say **'**no**'** to me, please…**"** he pleaded as the bell rang even though she didn't try to move. He guessed that meant she was skipping class. **"**Talk to me… I have to— I need to earn your trust back. What can I do?**"**

When she felt his arms around her, part of her wanted to run straight to the safety of her new room and Kate's comforting words, but the other part of her wanted to stay there and sink in his comfort and the smell of leather and forest that always came with him. She was safe from the world when she was with him, she knew that deep inside, but was she safe from him or herself? Derek confused her. One minute he could deny her and the next seek her comfort, he could let her down completely and the next second do something that would fully restore her faith in him. **"**What do you want, Derek?**"** she sighed tilting her head down and took a deep breath. **"**Why are you here?**"**

**"**I need you to come back with me, to the loft.**"** he said quietly. He tried to absorb everything she gave off; sounds, breaths, her smell, every twitch of muscle. **"**I need to know you're safe. I need to keep you safe.**"**

**"**But I am safe.**"** Kaya sighed. She understood what he meant by keeping her safe and it sure as hell wasn't only the people that were after her that he talked about; he had added Kate to the mix. **"**I really am**"** she insisted when she heard him growl. He was raised by wolves —pun intended— but then again, and oh hell at the very same time, so was she. Deciding the only way to ease his mind was to be honest she took a deep breath and turned around in his arms to face him but took a step back to put some distance between them. She still wasn't quite there yet with forgiveness. **"**Chris is going to help me train, teach me stuff, so that I can take care of myself if it ever gets to that. And Kate —you were right about her. She knows…**" **she said slowly moving her hands to his shoulders **"**She knew my family; my mom. And last night she promised she'd tell me the story. I need that, Derek. I need to know who I am, where I come from —who the hell killed my dad and my friends and probably wants me dead too.**"**

**"**We can figure this out together.**"** he said stepping forward and quickly leaning his forehead against hers, and she let him, but he knew he wasn't remotely close to convincing either of them. He knew that after the Steven fiasco, Kate was Kaya's best chance at finding out what went on in her own life. And despite his feelings towards the woman, he somehow knew she wouldn't hurt the girl and that made it even worse for him. This time Kate had done nothing worth protesting or waging war against, she just helped a teen girl survive. And from the passion in Kaya's voice when she defended Kate, he knew that the she-wolf was doing something right if she had earned her way into Kaya's good graces and affections. **"**Just be safe. And come back.**"**

Smiling slightly she placed both hands on his cheeks as a small sign of affection. **"**I will when I'm ready.**"** she smiled and he nodded regrettably as he knew that meant she was staying with the Argents and away from him. It was a bitter pill to swallow but if it was what it took for her to feel safe and eventually trust him again, then he was giving her all the space she needed.

Oh hell, what had he just signed himself up for?


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Something short and quick...**

* * *

The bed had felt harder under her body today but her mind unwillingly reminded her she'd once had worse; perks of running away from the system, who would have thought. Oh well… She ignored her alarm like she always did in the mornings but after a second her eyes snapped open as her knee hit something terribly solid. Was that wood?

Oh shit…

Waking up crammed in a box wasn't the perfect way to start the day, let alone the weekend. Her mind started working in the speed of light; what happened, where was she, how the hell did she end up in a —oh shit, she was in a coffin. How on earth she had gotten herself there?

Trying not to breathe more than she needed to, she tried to relax herself and flexed the muscles of her neck before rubbing the sleep off her eyes —okay, now that she was a functioning person, _where were we?_ Oh right, she had to get herself out of the freaking box and eventually have the person who buried her there in her sleep skinned alive. Sending the Berserkers, spooked as they made her feel, on them suddenly seemed like a brilliant plan but she'd have to expand on that thought later; preferably without having to measure her damn breathing. Setting her hands down flat, she tried feeling around the box; wood, not much quality there, thankfully. Her hand touched her alarm clock —yeah, she was leaving this one in the box when she got out— and a small flashlight.

Howdy har-har, obviously her kidnappers had a very poor sense of humor. But they were damned prudent. The alarm clock was supposed to wake her at a certain time, which they obviously wanted it to do, and the flashlight —well, she had no idea if that was even useful or a means to scare her in her current predicament. She wasn't going to waste her breath on that, pun intended.

Taking a deep breath, she didn't bother to exhale but instead pushed at the lid with her hands. The thing moved a little, which was good since it meant the soil covering it wasn't solid yet and she could get out. Trying to recall everything Chris and Kate had taught her the past week or so she decided to treat this like a test; as if she wasn't actually buried alive, as if Chris was standing over the box in a warehouse looking condescending, as he always did when he taught her stuff, and timed her escape. Crossing her arms to her chest, she tagged at the loose shirt she wore to bed and brought it over her head; insert mental clapping for Kaya Blake, boys and girls, for sleeping in yoga pants and loose shirts. With the collar still around her neck, she tied the bottom of the shirt in a knot over the top of her head. Claustrophobic as it was, it was only way not to suffocate while digging herself out. After that she brought her knees as humanly close to her stomach as possible and started kicking at the lid of the coffin as hard as she could. It took a few pushes for the wood to finally give in a good spot and she was actually thankful that whoever put her in there took the time to put on her running shoes for her, otherwise this would have been painfully awkward. As dirt began filling the casket little by little, she started pushing it towards the vacant space her feet left at the end of the box. It took her some time but eventually she managed to open up the hole a little more and sit up before she actually tried standing. If she managed to stand, with her height and the added height of the casket her head would eventually be over the surface.

Thank God for burying people only six feet under and not nine or something.

It took her almost three hours to completely dig herself out of the ground, she realized, as she sat there, right by the hole she had pushed herself out of, to catch her breath. The inside of her shirt was dirty, but then again she found herself covered in dirt generally —save from her face and hair— so she didn't really mind, she'd have a warm heart-nurturing shower when she got back to civilization and away from her somewhat open grave. Taking in the scene around her she noted she was in the woods and, knowing the area, she felt a bit safer. Before she finished that thought though, she heard the crack of a branch somewhere behind her and without giving it much thought she broke into a running. She was chased like an animal now, great, and she hadn't even had her morning coffee yet. She used the ground as leverage; the trees, the leaves, everything, as she ran and turned and jumped. After this, she vowed, she'd take up Coach on his offer to run track. In a moment of clouded judgment she turned around, panting, to see how many were following her. She only saw two people dressed in black from head to toe, wearing ski masks. Really, who wore ski masks these days? Looking ahead of her again she almost crashed straight at a male chest. A black-clad male chest, the face of which it belonged to was covered by a ski mask as well. Great.

The man made a huffing sound between a laugh and a sigh as she landed on her butt before he grabbed her arm and injected her with something. Suddenly her vision was blurry and she didn't feel she could move her feet to run even if she had an actual shot at getting out of this. This was the end people, farewell to this vain and cruel world. Last thing she remembered was being pulled up from the ground and being thrown over someone's shoulder —a really muscular shoulder unnaturally away from the ground.

* * *

It was official. Saturday mornings like this one should be reserved as punishment for betrayers in the Seventh Circle of Hell.

Seriously, what had she done to deserve this? All she wanted to do was sleep in, just this once. That's what she thought as she, for the second time today, tried to get herself out of a sticky situation. This time at least she didn't need to breathe dirt or escape her own grave; though that would make a cool story to tell Liam later. Closing her eyes she found herself breathing in deeply and remembering all the things Chris had taught her once again. Assessing the situation, she felt the rope she was tied with as best as she could and look at the chair; wood. With a smirk on her face she started pushing her body back and forth a couple of times till she had gained enough force and acceleration to push back hard. She ducked her head forward, to avoid giving herself a concussion, and with a strong push she fell back with the chair breaking as it crushed on the floor. The arms of the chair broke off but Kaya's hands were still tied to them so she knocked them on the floor a couple of times till the wood gave where she needed it to in order to free herself. She untied her legs as quickly as she could and picked up one of the chair's broken legs to carry with her; for protection of course.

Adrenaline was pumping through her veins; coffee? Who needed the sucker? Surviving was the real deal, the real rush. Cautiously power-walking through the room she was in, she found the door locked. Of course they wouldn't make it so easy for her. With a sigh she mentally scolded herself; it wasn't as if whoever took her would leave the door open or hand her a map to help her escape. Looking towards the windows she made a few mental calculations; what would she need to climb up to in order to reach them, if she'd fit through them.

Oh, where was Jennifer Garner when you needed her? If she was the TV superspy Sydney Bristow, she'd do a quick reconnaissance mission, get whatever she came to get and then get the hell out of there as soon as possible. That is if Sydney Bristow was caught twice in the same day, within a few hours in fact. Well, that wasn't really encouraging…

Deciding to take her chances, she moved towards a metal table and began pushing it to where she wanted it and with a heavy sigh she set another wooden chair on top of the table for more height. This was it, stupid or not. Climbing on top of her little creation she pushed the window open only to find out that the metal thingy that was supposed to keep it open was broken and she had to find something else to hold it open. Moment of sacrifice, people, she thought as she pushed the broken chair leg she was holding between the window and the small ledge. Now she had to fit through. A few efforts later she was halfway through the window and looking at what would become her salvation and sadly another embarrassing story she'd try to avoid telling —a dumpster. An open, full of garbage bags, dumpster. Thinking of the billion and one reasons the dumpster was lesser evil she took a deep breath, filling even her cheeks with it since she had an idea how gross and unhealthy this would be, and gave herself the final push.

—Out the window and into the trash. Awesome.

Despite her better judgment she sat still on the bags of trash for a second before she decided to pick over the edge where she thought she heard someone laugh. Were these people shitting her? Seriously?

Picking her head over the edge of the dumpster she came face to face with...Scott, Malia and the Argents. Seriously? Chris tried to choke down a laugh and pulled up his hand to tap on his smart watch. **"**Two hours, forty three minutes and fifty five seconds to dig yourself out and two-point-four minutes to figure out how to untie yourself and do it.**"** he announced. **"**It's a good overall.**"**

**"**Seriously?**"** Kaya exclaimed throwing her hands in the air. **"**You buried me alive while I was asleep, chased me like an animal, injected me with God knows what and tied me to a chair in a locked room out of which the only way out was to throw myself in a dumpster.**"** she listed trying to get herself out of the dumpster but slapped away Scott's hand when he tried to help her.** "**Don't you dare.**"** she glared at the young Alpha. **"**I put myself in here, I'm getting myself out.**"**

**"**I'm sorry…**"** Kate said unapologetically yet holding out a paper cup of coffee to the angered teen. **"**We just had to show you what it'd be like if you were actually taken.**"** Okay, maybe the sedative had taken it a bit too far, but it was how hunters learnt and the teaching couldn't always be in a sterile environment; it had to look real for her to fight it as if it was such. Kaya took the coffee from her with a glare that made the woman smile. Yep, the kid was alright.

**"**You, um— you kind of smell." Malia said putting a hand to her face to cover her nose. Kaya glared at her too but a second later she smirked, which worried the blonde girl more than getting the evil eye from her friend; she was used to that from spending time with Lydia. But in girl-world, she learnt, a smile or a smirk could be way worse than a glare. Kira once told her that if a girl smiled to a guy like that after he had messed up, well, he'd better start writing his will or check the immigration laws in Qatar.

**"**I do.**"** she said, her smile getting bigger as she turned to Chris and Kate. **"**Cause I fell into a dumpster —after I dug myself out of a coffin and ran for my life. Getting all sweaty and smelly.**"** she paused to take a sip from the coffee Kate had brought for her. **"**And guess who's lucky enough to drive me home…**"** The siblings sighed and made a grossed out face. **"**Serves you right.**"**

* * *

**"**Any word on my son?**"** he asked impatiently as he ran a hand over the claw marks down his neck. Had he been any other man he would have suffered fatal injuries, without even the possibility of turning, but he had survived. And those scars were part of his strength —they fueled his anger towards the werewolves.

Steven hadn't called or given them proof of life in over two weeks, which was completely unlike him —at least in the past few good years they had together. Sure, in his teenage years Steven was a wildcard, he would take off and show up again without so much as a reason or even a call, but he was never a coward. He had taught his son better than that. But this time he was afraid that Steven would turn his back on him for them; Kaya and her mother. He was afraid he'd choose the memory of Phil over him; over his own father.

Not that he would blame him…

**"**No sir.**"** the woman answered bowing her head down. Showing signs of submission when delivering bad news had proven to be a good way to ensure you lived to see another day in their community. All of them knew that. **"**But he was seen two weeks ago…**"** she said uncertain whether to give him that certain information or not. Maybe Steven knew better for not bringing it up and vanishing off the face of the earth **"**—talking to the girl.**"**

He knocked his fist on the table making the things on it bounce. **"**Why didn't I hear about this sooner?**"** he yelled at the woman. Incompetent —they were all incompetent. Steven had made contact when he was ordered not to and now he found out his people knew about it and left him in the dark. **"**How did they meet? What did they talk about? How long did they spend together? Did they meet again?**"** he asked one question after the other knowing that, of course, the woman in his presence had no answer. **"**You're all useless.**"** He yelled. **"**Idiots!**"**

That's it; he had to take matters into his own hands —his people had either given up or they were simply useless. It was time he got everyone's attention and since Peter Hale failed to deliver the message or come through as expected, well, he was going to have to do it in person.

* * *

**A/N: I always get mad when the main character doesn't have any survival skills at first and suddenly they get all MMA World Champion on the bad guy's ass so..filler chapter, yeah...**


	15. Chapter 15

It was a day like all others; no thunder tore the sky in two, no beast holding swords tried to conquer the world —no beast held scales in its hand and Hell was not out to end us all. No white robes were handed out that day, the sun hadn't turn black nor the moon became red as an earthquake shook the core of the earth and no trumpet-bearing angels revealed themselves to the world.

Just a man, bearing the wrath of Heaven and Hell.

He had no right; he had no right to be angry, to hate or even claim a single thing.

Yet he did because that's who he was; a man whose downfall would be his ego and endless sense of entitlement.

Yes, that was the sole bitter truth. He honestly believed the world owed him, that he owned her and her every decision. Just like he once believed he owned Steven and Phil. He was a powerful man in every sense of the word and maybe that was the real reason why he got so blinded and absorbed in the chase of power, that's why he always ended up losing; losing his sons' love and loyalty before they both eventually met their maker.

He was a man mad at the world. But most of all he was a man mad at himself.

* * *

_Daddy knows best; that's what Kaya had been taught and her dad had never failed her. So when he said she should hide between the brunches of the large oak tree and wait till he called for her, she did as he said. She didn't even question him when he asked her to keep quiet all the while or when he began chanting some weird words in, what she later learnt was, Latin._

_You see, when a child grows with only one parent, this parent becomes the center of the kid's universe, becomes both a mother and a father, a mentor, a friend; the one who will take care of you even when you don't want to be taken care of and get mad at you for trying to take care of them in return. There's a really unique relationship between a parent and their child. In a world based on some kind of temporary deal, everything is just so stressful but that's something that's nonexistent in a parent-child relationship. You can't place it; you just know it's there._

_Countless times in school, kids have to write sentences that describe that whole __**'**__me__**'**__ issue —family, friends, hobbies and stuff. But every time a kid gets to the bit about their parents, they just don't know what to say. How do you describe the person who taught you, and raised you to be a decent human being all in one sentence? What do you say to that? How do you describe these people in seven words or less? Especially if __**'**__these__**'**__ people, by default, are knocked down to one. How do you describe that person? Growing up, some kids find there are only two words fit to describe this person; __**'**__my everything__**'**__._

_But Kaya didn't have to wait till she grew up to know that._

_A man with one eye appeared in front of her dad and soon a few more circled around him. She could see that he was scared, but he was also very determined; she didn't know what about, but he looked ready to invade a small country with nothing but his tortured soul. Looking at the man she felt a pang of familiarity, like she knew him from somewhere she couldn't place, but she also felt a weird loathing for him. It was like she knew he had done or was about to do something terrible…_

* * *

Derek titled his head up to look at the man in front of him; oh, how he reminded him of Gerard Argent… He was bruised and beat pretty badly, especially for a man of his kind, but he had come to realize that this man wasn't any ordinary guy that fancied breaking into his home to provoke him. No, this man was something else entirely and Derek had many chances to see that. It was in the way he moved, there was this continuity and symmetry in how he fought —almost as if he was performing some twisted dance right there, like his moves were calculated with perfect precision and timed to the millisecond. Had Derek not been getting his butt handed to him, he would have taken an extra moment to admire the older man.

And then of course, it was in the way he had used a mix of his own blood with Derek's to write down a big **_W_** on his window once again.

Yes, he understood. He understood all too well who this man was, what he was after —or better yet **_who_**.

Peter's story of his meeting with the older man came to mind; he was exactly as his uncle described him. A man in his mid-sixties, average height with silver-white hair around his skull. He obviously lost an eye in a battle, or so Derek guessed, and the nasty set of claw marks down his neck was enough to tell him it wasn't the first time he had a face-off with his kind. He wondered which side had actually won that battle.

**"**Tell me, Derek… May I call you Derek? I feel like I should…**"** he mused as he walked in a small circle around the injured werewolf **"**Where is she?**" **Yes, if anyone knew where she was, he was sure it would be him. Derek Hale; the Hales always knew more, always troubled him and his clan more than the rest. Maybe it was because they were natural born leaders, protectors. Or maybe it was just because he hated werewolves so badly.

**"**You're never going to get her…**"** Derek barked out. He was defeated, beaten and reduced to what he would call a chew-toy. But if he could protect her, he would —even if protecting her just meant keeping his mouth shut. Oh, if only he could let Chris know then he would take care of the rest; he would place her in a cocoon and hide her in the damn core of the earth if he had to, he knew he would. **"**I'll never tell you where she is…**"**

**"**Oh, Mr. Hale…**"** he mused. How naïve the young ones are… **"**You actually don't have to tell me a single thing…**"** he looked at the younger man's face and kneeled down in front of him so their eyes were level. He wanted to see the shock on his face turn into horror, he craved that. **"**She'll come for you. I've already sent for her…**"** he said casting his eyes towards his bloody work of art for a second before they returned to Derek. Yes, that look on the werewolf's face was all he wanted to see, all the empowerment he needed.

* * *

**_"_**_Don't do this.__**"**__ Phil said holding out his hands in front of him. His father had lost his mind in a quest for power and now he was left with nothing but more hunger for it —the sad thing was that when he looked at his old man, all he saw was a danger to his kid. His father wanted her for leverage, to tip the damn scales in his favor, should the day he needs such a thing ever came. And what pained him most was that his father was so blind to his own insanity that he thought he was doing what was best for his family. __**"**__She is your family.__**"**_

**_"_**_Yes.__**"**__ he said through grinded teeth and took another step closer to Phil. __**"**__She. Is. My. Family. __**Mine"**__ he said raising his voice as if that would prove his ownership and authority over the girl._

* * *

Like Kate had said, and was proven right once again, the terrible start of her day was nothing a few warm cups of coffee and an extra long hot shower couldn't fix. Malia had made sure to stick around with her, possibly out of guilt for what they put her through, and the two girls had decided to be very productive —and actually fell asleep.

Chris had poked his head into the room at some point and looked at their sleeping figures fondly; the scene reminded him so much of Allison and Lydia a couple of years back. Carefully, knowing Malia's senses were always on stand-by, he pulled a spare blanket from one of the drawers and draped it over them since, unlike other years, the chill was starting to bite hard on them. With a mischievous grin on his face he took his phone out of his jeans' pocket and snapped a photo of them, sending it to Peter. He had noticed the two of them exchanged mails and texts more often these days —that with the girls hanging out and all of them being on the same team for once while chased by psychos on a weekly base. But yeah, the two sleeping girls had them acting like new proud fathers of toddlers instead of grown up men responsible for teenagers.

Still, he had spent more time polishing his riffle for the moment Derek or any other canine suitor would knock on his door asking to take Kaya out on a date —yeah, two of Allison's werewolf boyfriends later and he was still not sold on the idea.

When he left the room both girls lazily popped an eye open. **"**He's cute thinking we wouldn't notice.**"** Kaya said yawning and Malia nodded. **"**I bet he sent that to Peter.**"**

**"**I'm checking his phone later.**"** The blonde stated and stood from the bed. **"**We should really get some food. I'm starving. I want deer!**"** she exclaimed and Kaya lifted an eyebrow. **"**Pizza?**"** she tried again.

**"**Maybe later**"** The brunette agreed with half a heart. She had landed into a dumpster, full of leftovers and other nasty stuff she didn't want to think about, she sure as hell didn't feel the need to eat any time soon. **"**I think I'm going to go see Derek…**"** she said in a low voice, she had a feeling she should go to him and she hadn't seen him since that day at school.

**"**So, you two are cool now then?**"** Malia asked, a bit hopeful. In all honesty, Derek had her dropping hints at her friend about how sorry, sad and alone he was without her and how much he missed her. She was getting a bit tired of the drama her cousin's love life was turning into. But she loved Kaya and, if she was going to be honest, she had sort of grown a little more fond of Derek in the past few months too.

**"**I don't know…**"** she trailed **"**I told him I'd try to get there but I don't know. He let Peter kill Steven when I begged him not to.**"** She shook her head at the memory of that night, it still hurt; all the misplaced trust, the hope that Derek had come through for her when he hadn't… **"**I just feel a bit betrayed. I know he didn't mean to but it happened. And I guess, one day soon, I'll have to get over it and start being in the same room as him again.**"** And then there was that kiss in the shower. She was no idiot; she knew there was something going on between the two of them, it was there from the beginning.

Her dad used to tell her that she'd meet someone and one day she would wake up and realize that she loved this person. That, no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't be able to place how, why or when she fell in love with him because she'd have always been in love with him. He used to tell her, that the secret to a happy life was to find someone she couldn't shake from her mind or breathe without and be with him for the rest of her life. Quite often, she found herself wondering how any guy she'd ever meet could compare with all that romantic goo —but then she met Derek. And he was all that romantic goo without them even realizing it.

**"**I just have to see him…**"**

* * *

They say that animals can see a person's aura and that they can sometimes predict death. Then of course there's a special group of people, like Lydia Martin, who can do just the same; see, hear or smell death, whatever it is they do. They can predict death. They feel it approaching, see it before all others do. Legend has it that the wailing of a banshee signifies that the death of a person is nearby.

But Kaya Blake was not a Banshee.

However there were so many signs out there warning her. Her watch had actually stopped ticking during her ride in the elevator and there was a black dog barking outside her building but wouldn't enter it even though the door was open. For a second she could swear she saw a black crow watching her but it disappeared in the blink of an eye. —No, she was never really into superstitions but she knew better than to dismiss it all as fragments of her imagination. The Berserkers hidden in the area, watching the building, gave her some peace of mind even though they shouldn't. Who found peace looking at psychotic inhuman bone-men? Still, she knew they were under Kate's orders to protect her and heed her word as if she too was their mistress.

Arriving at Derek's building she felt the knot in her stomach getting tighter, her chest was heavy and weirdly enough her left eye had started twitching. Great, another omen —as if she wasn't already on edge about this... **"**You are not a Banshee. You can't predict bad things to come.**"** she mentally scolded herself and took a deep breath before going in.

* * *

**_"_**_What about me?__**"**__ Phil asked throwing his hands in the air. By this time he was raging inside, his blood boiling. __**"**__Oh yeah, I forgot, I'm not your family anymore. Isn't that what you said last time? The time you tried to take my daughter from me.__**"**_

_If there was one thing Phil was never going to let his father get away with was hurting his kid. Yes, he was his blood too, but his kid —she was the reason he lived and breathed now. Letting her mother get away was hard enough for him to stomach already, especially having her sent away under the protection of his pretty much volatile brother. But no, Steven —he was in love with her, he wouldn't hurt her. Oh yes, Phil knew; he could see right through both his brother and father._

_And his brother desired what was his while his father wanted to destroy it. Yes, his chances were better placing his faith on his brother. He might have already lost her to him for all he knew. But at least that way she'd be safe._

**_"_**_That kid belongs to me just as much as she belongs to you.__**"**__ the man exclaimed. __**"**__You tried to keep her away from me —for __**her**__!__**"**__ he spat out the last word. Yes, he hated the woman who mothered his own granddaughter, his son's girl; that woman, he thought, was poison. She was the serpent underneath all that was beautiful and lovely. __**"**__And now, I came to claim what is mine.__**"**_

* * *

**"**I understand where you're coming from, Mister Hale; I do.**"** The man mused as he circled around Derek. **"**I've seen many men fall prey to the charms of women like her; beautiful, smart, bold. The kind that seems invincible yet would let only one man protect her. I've seen many of these women in my days, I must tell you…**"**

Derek barked out a laugh. **"**You describe a damn good woman worth falling on your knees for.**"** No, he wasn't in a sudden chit-chat mood but he knew he had to buy himself time to heal before he took a shot on the man. **"**So what? One of those women hurt your feelings and now you hate on all of them?**"**

**"**Oh no, son.**"** the man chuckled. He found great humor in talking to Derek Hale, in how much he allowed himself to be blinded by Kaya's charms much like Phil had by her mother's. **"**You see; you remind me of a young man I knew many years ago, which is very interesting; I almost feel sorry I have to make an example out of you Derek.**"**

**"**How come all psychos have a sob story?**"** Derek asked smirking and moved himself in a seating position, he had boosted the man's ego too much already. **"**You all have a story to justify your craziness and of course, some moments of clarity, like this one, when you admit you don't want to be doing all the things you do.**"** He waved his injured hand around a bit testing its healing process at the same time. **"**Yet you do them anyway…**"**

**"**That is a very good question there.**"** He laughed despite himself. Yes, he could have taken great interest in Derek Hale had he not been standing in his way towards Kaya; he could have been his second chance with Phil. Oh, lord, maybe this was the exact thing that drew his granddaughter to the werewolf. **"**But what you should have asked me is who this person you remind me of is. Let's —let's pretend it is indeed what you asked me.**"** He waved his hand around. **"**You, Derek, remind me terribly of my youngest son. You may have heard of my Phil.**"**

At the mention of the name, the wheels in Derek's brain begun working ten times faster. Phil —as in Phil Blake; Kaya's father, Steven Blake's brother. This man was those men's father —Kaya's grandfather.

Damn it, his poor girl was hunted down by her own grandfather. He spent years believing his family was messed up but her family was insane beyond salvation apparently. He was putting the pieces together now, but he knew he had to make sure. **"**Phil Blake was your son?**"**

**"**I see you've heard of him; from Kaya, I presume.**"** He said picking up random broken pieces of furniture and examining them thoroughly. **"**Yes. My son was one of those men that fell prey to the, oh, so seemingly charismatic type of woman you as well find attractive.**"** That earned him a chuckle from Derek. **"**You see, I even wanted to believe it myself —that she was different from that hag of a mother of hers. But no, Derek. That girl is just like her; poisonous to men that want her love.**"**

**"**You sound like the worst kind of in-law if you ask me.**"** Derek said through grinded teeth.

**"**I admit I made a few mistakes with my son, Derek.**"** he said examining what was left of a coat hanger. **"**I let my emotions and anger cloud my judgment.**"** That was the understatement of the century actually. He had done a lot more than let himself get carried away; he had erased the existence of his own son from his mind and replaced it with one of a traitor. **"**But you… I want that girl, Derek, and so do you. We can share her. I am a lenient man, I've learnt from my mistakes; right here and now, I can share…**"**

**"**You can shove your lenient offer up your ass.**"** Derek finally spat out. He had enough of this man; thinking he had a right over Kaya. Thinking she was an object he could claim, trade or share according to his mood. At that second the words of Steven Blake came to him; **'**she belongs to you just as much as she belongs to me. Not even slightly**'**.

**"**I thought you might say that.**"** The older man smirked. **"**I wasn't wrong when I compared you to my son, you know. And **_this_** is exactly what I did to him too.**"** He said as he pushed the rod of the hanger through Derek's gut with great force till it could be seen coming out of his back.

* * *

**_"_**_Don't you have a heart anymore?__**"**__ Phil asked giving up. __**"**__Haven't you ruined my life —my family— enough already? Isn't it enough for you that my daughter is growing up without a mother because of you? Or that I'm exiled out here alone, running for my life?__**"**__ He took a step closer towards his father. __**"**__Is power really all you care about?__**"**_

**_"_**_You, Phil Blake, are nobody —you do not matter.__**"**__ He spat out. __**"**__Your life has no value to me anymore. It stopped the second you betrayed me for the woman you call your daughter's mother.__**"**_

**_"_**_Why? Because you didn't like her yet I loved her?__**"**_

**_"_**_Because she's a god damn hunter!__**"**__ He yelled. __**"**__Now she's made you into her image. And you will pay for it.__**"**_

* * *

Kaya walked into the loft the second the wooden rod went through Derek's body. The man turned to look at her with a smug smile on his face and Derek's eyes lifted to her pleadingly; pleading with her to run, she knew, as fresh blood run down his body and from the corners of his mouth.

**"**Welcome, darling.**"** The man with one eye said grinning as if he had expected that moment for years; on a second look at his face, she knew, he honestly had.

She couldn't remember herself ever reacting to something this way. She couldn't remember ever wanting to kill someone so badly or feel such an overwhelming feeling of rage overpowering even the most sane parts of her brain. But seeing that man there, the man she recognized as her father's killer, standing in front of her after he had just hurt Derek —it made her lose all sense of control.

So she did something that was purely reserved for another person in their odd group. —She screamed.

She screamed and all glass broke. She screamed and the ground shook to its core. She screamed and watched the man bleed.


	16. Chapter 16

The once majestic floor-to-ceiling window on the apartment no longer held its former glory and broken glass was scattered on the dark floor. Shards cracked under the heel of one's shoes as calculated steps were taken into the room and blue eyes roamed the scene with somewhat of an admiration yet at the same time fear —fear of the unknown. The broken glass though wasn't what caught his eye, nor the thing that scared him the most; this loft had seen more than its fair share of nasty fights, if there was even such a thing.

The scary thing was the large bloodstain on the floor, shaped like a body.

Only there was no body in the room.

There had never been.

**"**She did all this?**"** Peter asked pointing his index finger around the room and Derek nodded from his spot on the couch, bloody and ripped shirt still on his back. **"**Oh well —maybe it's time we unregister this address from the Local Phonebook For Evil Attackers.**"** He said humorlessly as he tilted his head to the side, eyes still fixed on the blood on the floor. **"**And we should definitely hire a good cleaning service. Oh maybe we should ask our mobster friends which one they use…**"**

* * *

_Derek barely had time to shield his ears as she screamed._

_He had heard Lydia scream lots of times, even to his face as she had once predicted his death, and it scared him more than he cared to admit —but hearing Kaya scream was an entirely different experience. As if he was witnessing something never seen before; but was it the beginning of something great or her undoing?_

_And how the hell did she scream like that?_

_He looked at her with a grin; that damn man wouldn't die so easily. The weird thing was that, even as he had begun bleeding at the sound of her scream, he looked proud. What the hell was he proud of? For all she knew he had ruined her life. He killed her father and, from what she gathered from pieces of the last conversation between the two men, he was the one that drove her mother away too._

_He was the one who had taken everything from her since she was too young to realize what loss meant._

_And watching him bleed —the sight evoked some sick and twisted joy inside of her; a feeling of empowerment and maybe a little bit of justice. Or maybe it was retribution, at that moment she couldn't tell the difference and nor did she care to. And that feeling, the one that took over her, made her feel so good that the thought that she had really brought a man to his knees just with the sound of her voice didn't even seem to register in her brain._

_But just because she didn't care to notice, didn't mean the two men in the room didn't either._

_As soon as she stopped screaming Derek removed his hands from his ears and, bringing them down, he noticed something that wasn't there before; blood. Bringing two fingers to the area right below his ear he touched to see more blood. Taking a deep breath he pulled the rod out of his own body, biting back a scream, and tossed it aside._

_Should __**he**__ be scared of her?_

_No, this was Kaya; he knew this girl. She was the same girl he had shared his bed with, the girl who cried begging him to save the life of a man she barely knew, the girl who danced barefoot in his kitchen when she thought nobody was watching. But for some reason, the girl who stood only a few feet away from him looked nothing like the girl he knew. She looked darker, like a vengeful angel of death there to claim someone's life like she owned it. And this sense of entitlement scared him more than the blood she could spill._

_Because that sense of entitlement he had encountered earlier in the object of her hatred; her grandfather._

* * *

**"**Maybe you should move.**"** Stiles blurted out and everyone turned to look at him. The kids had been called in not long after Peter arrived and so far all they had done was clean up the mess. But of course housekeeping wasn't what was mostly needed at the moment; it was answers and solutions. **"**What? It's not like there's a single psycho in California that doesn't know where you live…**"**

Peter actually chuckled at that. **"**That's what I said.**"** he said over a glass of whiskey, and in all honesty he was both grateful and surprised that every glass in the kitchen had actually survived the Kaya Effect or whatever it was that happened in there.

Lydia carefully touched the broken panel of the window and shivered a little as she felt the aura of death, exactly what should have happened in the very room they were standing. **"**What happened here?**"**

**"**She just screamed.**"**

* * *

_The man kept looking at her with pride. He was cut all over from the broken window shards and somehow her scream had made large cuts open all over his body. And he bled; he bled more than a regular man would handle bleeding yet he was still there —on his knees watching her as if someone had shown him to the fountain of youth. Maybe she was even better than that, yes; she was his very own source of power. Power that could be harnessed through anger. And she sure felt a lot of anger towards him for some reason._

**_"_**_Oh my darling, aren't you a sight for sore eyes…__**"**__ he mused taking the image she presented in. Tall, with dark hair and hazel eyes; he wished he could say she looked like him or even Phil, but no, other than their colors, she was all __**her**__. From the looks and the way she held herself in a room to the way she tilted her head and looked at him with that emotionless expression painted on her face. She looked exactly like her mother. And, at that very second, he actually hated the girl. __**"**__You look just like her.__**"**__ he spat out._

_She knew —she just knew he was talking about her mother. Knowing her dad and having met Steven, it wasn't hard on her to put two and two together and figure out that a great deal of her genetic pool had been from her mother's side. __**"**__I'll take that as a compliment.__**" **__she smirked and moved closer to him. His blood, running down all the way to the floor, enticed her. She studied him too though; his height was average for a man and there was a stripe of silver white hair around his skull, now painted red because of the blood. The eye patch that covered one of his eyes didn't go unnoticed by her and for some reason even that made her swell with pride. It was there in her single memory of him so it couldn't have been her doing but she knew —she felt it in her bones— it must have been her parents' gift to him. Then there were the claw marks; they weren't there the last time but she had a pretty good idea where they came from. She had seen scars like those before; she lived with werewolves after all._ _Maybe this was the gift of one of them to him as well._

**_"_**_You shouldn't.__**"**__ he said in his ever present cocky tone. Kaya was stronger than his son, her father, had ever been but she was still a teenage girl with no idea of her own potentials while he had full knowledge and use of his. That kid should learn early on not to defy him or challenge his authority._

_Kaya took a few more steps closer to him and stopped when she stood within arm's reach of the old bastard. __**"**__I never said you could speak to me.__**"**__ She said and raised her foot, kicking him hard straight across the jaw. __**"**__You killed my father.__**"**__ She yelled at him as he fell back on the floor and put a leg on his carotid artery to keep him down, but to also cause him pain. Her eyes drifted towards Derek's direction for a second to see him still there, in the same position he was when she entered, but healing slowly. __**"**__You hurt my people.__**"**__ She pressed her foot against his throat a bit more and he choked. __**"**__You killed my father and I had to watch you take everything away from me.__**"**_

**_"_**_You…__**"**__ he started but choked due the pressure she was applying on his throat. He never knew; he never realized. She was there that day, right under his nose, and he had no idea she was so close for him to take. Of course, it must have been one of Phil's tricks, hiding her from him. Yes, his son had a strong intuition and of course it worked in his favor even till the very second he died. __**"**__My name__**"**__ he stammered bringing his hands over his head to show her he wasn't going to try anything and she released enough pressure so he could make sense as he spoke. He coughed a few times trying to get oxygen back into his lungs and continued. __**"**__My name is Waldo. Waldo Blake. And I'm your grandfather.__**"**_

**_"_**_All the worse for you,__**"**__ she said emotionlessly, not even looking surprised __**"**__Waldo.__**"**_

* * *

She walked around like a zombie.

He affected her more than she was ready to acknowledge or admit to the world; for crying out loud, the man was her grandfather. And yet he killed his own son out of spite because, oh well, he didn't approve of the woman his boy chose to have kids with. Hating a stranger, she had found over the years, was easier than hating someone who meant or could have meant something to one had things been different.

Maybe this was the reason that Derek still hated Kate with a passion, she thought. Because she had, once, meant something to him.

Taking a seat on a bench she finally noticed she was at the park a few blocks away from Derek's loft. Had she been walking in circles? She could swear she had walked a lot more…

She thought of the life she could have had if Waldo Blake hadn't _happened_ to her. She could have had a mother, for starters, and her dad would have been happy. Maybe she would have gotten to meet Steven better and he'd watch her on Friday nights when her parents would go out on a date. He'd eat cookies and pizza with her and let her stay past her bedtime watching crappy movies no kid should watch. Her parents would pretend not to know but they'd still chuckle when they'd find them sleeping on the couch in front of the TV.

Her mom would have taught her how to braid her hair in all sorts of pretty ways before they went to bed and she'd read her stories before she'd tuck her in. She would kiss her goodnight and good morning and she'd make them breakfast before they'd giggle their way to her room to find something pretty for her to wear. She would share secrets with her and when the time was right she'd give her all the awkward talks no girl should ever be forced to have with her dad. Her dad; he'd have been happy. He would drive her to school and glare at the boys who dared to blink her way because, he'd say, she's just as pretty as her mother and he had to work really hard to get a girl like her. He'd make breakfast on Sundays and grill things awfully in their backyard while Steven would laugh at him or help him make things worse, depending on his mood. And maybe, just maybe, she could have had siblings too; mini versions of her parents running around, pissing her off but people to love to the moon and back.

See, she could have had a happy life. A life where she'd have been loved and cherished, but instead she got a vast collection of foster homes till the werewolves found her. Them she was grateful for; her many foster parents, not always. Some of them were actually good —people she would have liked to stay with for longer, some of them she even grew to love. They taught her things, put a roof over her head and food in her belly and they were nice to her so in return she was nice to them. And then there were the others; the ones she wished nor nature or the system would ever allow to have kids. Some of them just lacked the parent gene while others were simply awful human beings. One or two had been or tried to be abusive while others would just treat her like a slave in the house.

She still remembered her last foster home. The woman, the mother, was pretty awesome for a woman who lived with such a mean husband. Kaya had seen him raise his hand on her multiple times; some of them she even got in the middle and got slapped or punched herself while others he would freeze in place as if something was frightening him and he'd run screaming the devil was in their home. One day, after beating the living hell out of his wife, he returned home way past midnight; Kaya was taking care of his poor wife when he stumbled in. He was badly bruised and beaten himself but she couldn't find it in her to tend to him. In a moment of kindness she just dumped a few clean towels and antiseptic on the coffee table for him as he washed his face. The next morning he yelled at her saying the **_she-devil _**had made sure he knew not to touch her or his wife again but he insisted he wanted her out of his home cause she too was the devil and as long as she was there so would the other woman lurk.

Her mother; now she knew the she-devil her foster dad was talking about was her mother. She was sure of it. No mother would abandon her kid like that, especially with a crazy relative on the loose hunting her down to do whatever it was he was planning to do with her anyway… And maybe, just maybe, it was her mother that had told Jules to send her away just before the last attack. Maybe it was her mother that made sure she was kept safe all these years after all by placing her in the care of the wolves.

* * *

**"**Did she kill him?**"** Scott asked still able to smell the blood despite all the bleach they had used in that room. He knew Kaya had killed once before, with or rather for Kate, and he was actually worried that maybe…

**"**No.**"** Derek's voice said quickly. **"**I'd never let her go down that way again…**"** he finished with a tired note in his voice. It wasn't just that he was physically tired after being beaten and actually pierced through, it was that his mind was tired and torn by what he'd seen. And he was worried —because, once again, she just walked away. And for the first time, Derek saw that, like him, she too preferred to battle her demons alone. **"**Do me a favor and find out where she is now…**"** he said looking at Kira who nodded and pulled her phone out to try and get a hold of the other brunette.

For the first time in years, he prayed for Kate Argent's presence; Kaya was always safe around Kate. Yes, the woman —poisonous as she had been to him— was good to Kaya, she kept her safe, taught her how to defend and protect herself. He just wished she had returned to Kate's; yet not hearing from the woman made him worry she didn't go home and of course the car she drove there was still under his building. By car or on foot, he wished she had made her way back to the safety of the Argents; they kept her safe when he always failed her. What good was he to her anyway?

**"**She's going to be alright, man.**"** Stiles said trying to be comforting but even he wasn't sure of that. Instead, when he knew all words would fail, he put a hand on Derek's shoulder and squeezed lightly. The man seemed to accept the gesture and returned it a few seconds later putting his own hand over the teenager's.

* * *

An hour later she walked into the apartment like a walking corpse. Maybe this is what she felt like. Better yet, in the light of honesty, that was exactly what she felt like. Her own image caught her eye in the hallway mirror and she stopped to observe herself better.

Yes, she still looked the same, she thought as she ran across her face slowly. Her hair, although a bit all over the place, looked the same. Her face and body hadn't changed and aside from a couple of bloodstains on the top she wore under her leather jacket nothing could tell what happened earlier. Nothing could tell of the terrible day she had had since she woke up. But her eyes —her eyes, she noticed seemed a bit dull as if they suddenly lost their spark. As if she had suddenly aged instead of growing up and she had seen way too much way too soon.

Slowly she walked towards Kate's room, knowing the woman was there. She opened the door without knocking to find her ending a call and, even though the woman looked at her with worry written all over her face, she made no move to get to her. **"**Have you ever lied to me, Kate?**"** she asked slowly, hand still on the handle, uncertain as if she was going to regret asking. And who knew, maybe she would.

**"**No.**"** Kate answered shaking her head. **"**I haven't lied to you. But I won't promise you I never will —because one day I might.**"** she admitted. Of course, she wasn't going to lie to her at her current state of mind; bless Peter's half-rotten soul for picking up the damn phone to let her know what happened. She should have known Waldo would make an appearance sooner or later; and knowing him, she knew he was the **'**sooner**'** type of guy and he wasn't always the wisest…

* * *

**_"_**_I swear to God, Kate, if he finds you here…__**"**__ Phil tried to send her away but laughed a bit at her pouting face. He knew his father didn't like visitors, much less the kind of visitors that were his friends and he hadn't invited them there._

**_"_**_What is going to do? Ground me?__**"**__ Kate challenged as she plopped herself on Waldo's desk swinging her legs back and forth and watched Phil cringe whenever the back of her heels knocked against the wood of the desk; cherry wood to be exact. __**"**__You know if he as much as yells at me that'll start a war with my dad. And he needs the allies…__**"**_

**_"_**_Kate…__**"**__ he sighed but before he had the chance to utter another word his father walked in. Great. Kate was leaving tomorrow and he may never see her again —he didn't want to say goodbye to her with a huge scene. But of course his dad thrived whenever he caused a scene…_

_Waldo strode towards his desk quickly and pulled Kate down from it roughly by the arm. __**"**__I told you I didn't want to see you or any of your harlot friends around my house again.__**"**__ He yelled but Kate smirked. He groaned and pushed her towards a chair and she fell hard against it, Phil rushing to her side. Of course his son was always running behind Kate and her little group of silly girls with short skirts and loud laughs. That boy was weak…_

_The sound of a gun being fired rang through the air and Waldo whelped in a mix of pain and surprise. __**"**__I thought I told you to never touch my kids.__**"**__ Gerard said in a cool tone from the doorway, his shotgun resting against his shoulder. __**"**__Obviously you're not bleeding but it'll hurt like hell. But you knew that —it is your mix after all.__**"**__ he said and moved into the room to receive his daughter from the helping hand of the youngest Blake. __**"**__I hope you know our deal is off. And the werewolves are on your doorstep –have a good day.__**"**__ He told Waldo, his former ally, and left his manor the same way he entered it._

_Like a boss._


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: A review would be nice, just saying...**

* * *

There comes a moment of utter definition in a man's life.

Some men stumble upon that moment somewhere in their thirties when it's all about making a choice for themselves and be done with it while others live that day over and over again in shame and regret. In Phil's life, that moment came a little after his 16th birthday when she, his beautiful and hellishly independent girlfriend, announced she was having his child.

And he fell short.

He didn't mean to, not when it came to her —never her— he loved her; he just freaked out, shut down completely, while Steven... Oh Steven, his big brother and black sheep of the family, proved to be a better man than anyone had expected him to be —than she had expected him to be. Because in the very second Phil was ready to be a coward and denounce her and the baby growing inside her, Steven stood tall and ready to claim her child as his own should his brother fail to man up. Of course he did though —it was a common secret that Steven had a thing for his brother's girl but, to his credit, he never acted upon it. So even though it killed him a bit, Phil could see the man inside his brother, the same way she saw him when he stood in front of her family and promised he'd give that baby his name if he had to in order to keep them secured and protected.

And in that second —for the very first time— she too saw Steven as a reliable man instead of the reckless adolescent she had known to that moment. And she loved him for that.

And now; where had all that once bright future of theirs gotten them? Where had all those promised pedigrees and life away from their not-so-merry families gone? Gone with the wind, just like their dreams —just like their lives. Now Steven was dead; his body entrusted to the Mexican hunters-slash-friendly cartel to preserve, and she was drinking alone once again. Story of her life. And Phil; he made up for his somewhat sins to their daughter and eventually gave his life for her, finding peace. She held up her glass for a second, toasting to no one in particular but at the same time to both of them, before emptying what was left of her whiskey.

Drinking and thinking of what might have been was what she did these days…

Waldo, she thought, was a very lucky bastard because, at the end of the day, despite all her anger and hatred for the man who robbed her of her father, her daughter was not a murderer. And she thought of that with pride —because even though that girl was cursed with having a fairly crazy family on both sides, she hadn't turned into them. No, her daughter was a good person; a somewhat lost person, but still a damn good one. A person who wouldn't take a life if it didn't mean saving someone else's —for a second she wondered which Blake brother she had inherited that trait from cause she sure never held back when it came to murder.

That was one thing she was proud that Kaya was nothing like her.

But there were so many things they had in common; they both knew how to survive and then there were those small things Kaya did that reminded her of herself when she was a teenager —the way she'd dance around barefoot when she thought no one was watching or cuddle her own blanket at night so she wouldn't feel alone, how she'd tilt her head to the left when she had questions and to the right when she was trying to look cute or be smug. And of course there was that thing about her hair; oh how she hated her brown hair when she was her daughter's age —plain brown and wavy, nothing special about them, she thought, but on her daughter she loved that dark and natural color and the way it flowed in gentle waves down her shoulders.

In fact she loved everything about her daughter.

Everything but her little infatuation with Derek Hale, that is.

That she was opposed to, for obvious reasons since she was raised a hunter —but then again she knew from experience that love affairs between the human and the nonhuman rarely ended well from the human. Not that Kaya was exactly the defenseless damsel in distress but that was a whole other issue that even she wasn't ready or rather was still too sober to deal with. Sad thing was that Derek was good for her, he was good to her, but he was so damaged that when the moment that would define them came he would put his anger and issues ahead of her.

She had knew how Derek operated; his blind anger and jealousy had gotten Steven killed. And the worst part was that Derek would make Kaya all kinds of promises that he'd stay with her and love her forever, but in the end he would just do to her what he did to everyone who got too close; he would destroy her.

He won't mean to break her and he'll hate himself for doing it, but he will.

* * *

She sat there quietly on his mattress, waiting for him to get back and contemplating whether or not this was a good idea, what she would tell him when he came in.

She was practically dressed and dragged to that Halloween party and in all honesty she only went hoping he would be somewhere around the school premises lurking like he always did since the **"**kids**"** had the tendency of getting themselves in trouble just by breathing in public. But he wasn't there so, to Lydia's dismay, she bailed after a spiked drink and a half to lurk around his apartment. An hour ago.

And there he found her, in such deep thought she didn't hear him enter, dressed as Little Red Riding hood —mind the irony— sitting on his bed with her exposed legs crossed ahead of her and those ridiculously cute braids hanging over her shoulders. How on earth had Chris even allowed her out of the house in that tiny dress to begin with?

He could leave; she hadn't noticed him yet. He _should_ leave and save his sanity for a little while longer, but he knew eventually one of them would have to be the adult and sit the other one down for a little chat. And obviously she had decided to do it tonight. But that didn't mean he was going to make it easy on her.

**"**Look what the cat dragged in.**"** Derek mused, his coldest expression in place. Truth be told he was dying a bit on the inside seeing her there and not being able to just jump on the bed next to her and bask in the feeling of her presence in his space. But no, she had just left him there and it took her a week to come back so he was entitled to giving her the cold shoulder for the next minute or so; that was all the resolve he had left. And he felt like a poor excuse of a man for that too.

**"**Cat?**"** she asked with a scoff as if the very suggestion offended her and raised a perfectly shaped brow. Excuse you, Derek Hale, she may lack in the claw department but she was a wolf in spirit just as much as he was, if not a tad bit more. In all honesty she had taken things to a whole new level a year ago when she had flat-out announced that she no longer took offence in being called a **'**bitch**'** because in werewolf community the term was not meant to be taken as such. And now he went to call her a cat —talk about shattering a girl's confidence.

**"**I see the irony isn't lost on you either…**"** he mused with a smirk and finally took a seat at the foot of the bed and she pulled her legs to herself **"**Coming into the wolf's den dressed like Little Red? Are you even real?**"** he chuckled unable to help himself. In fact she fit the role perfectly; young and sweet but tough too, not knowing what she was walking into but not backing down. He wondered for a second what his role was in the fairytale. Obviously he was the wolf, the big bad wolf. Only this wolf wasn't out to hurt her —just anyone who'd dare dream of laying a finger on her.

Now they were getting somewhere, she thought. She could tell he was trying really hard to look stern and unpleased that she was there but she knew better; she knew he wanted her there. Everyone had told her so —multiple times. **"**Oh this?**"** she grinned **"**Just something I threw on for a party.**"** Lie; it was Lydia's idea to dress her up like that and, no, the irony wasn't lost on anyone in their little group of mostly canines —they made it very obvious by mentioning her thing with Derek and his wolf gene every once in a while. **"**I see the big bad wolf is back on guard…**"** she commented lightly **"**The whole brooding look is just…**"**

**"**What?**"**

**"**Not convincing.**"** Kaya shrugged tilting her head a little to the right. Seeing Derek trying to stop himself from giving in and laughing she decided to take one from the team and laugh first. **"**You know you're dying to laugh and make up with me.**"**

**"**And you've been spending too much time with Kate Argent.**"** He accused back lightly but a second later he was back to his somber self. **"**You left. You just left.**"** He said plainly moving to sit a bit closer to her. **"**You cannot just leave. You cannot not show up for a week and then come in here looking gorgeous and expecting me to forgive you.**"** He said and held up his hand quickly when he saw she was ready to make a comment, knowing her, most likely on the **'**gorgeous**'** part. **"**Yes; you're gorgeous and we both know it. But the point is you cannot walk out on me when something gets too much for you and then come right back in when you've cooled down and it all works for you.**"**

**"**Okay.**"** she nodded slowly. It was a major foul on her behalf, she'd admit, leaving him hanging but she was pretty much all over the place too. **"**I just…**"** she paused looking at her lap for a second trying to find the words. How could she even describe it? **"**I felt out of control.**"** She said still not knowing how to express what happened. **"**If I stayed here any longer —I would have flipped and I don't even want to think of what I'd do.**"** She looked up at Derek for a second, searching his face to see if he understood where she was going with this. **"**I would have killed him.**"** She said softly.

_And maybe you too_; she added in her head.

What was she talking about? The girl he had seen that day standing in front of him was in complete control of everything; the situation, her opponent, her anger. There was nothing that seemed she wasn't able to control at that very moment; so why on earth did she feel like she would just flip the switch? **"**No, you wouldn't have.**"** He said sternly reaching over to place his hand over hers.

**"**Yes, I would.**"** She said slowly looking at his hand. **"**It was like —like a voice in my head, something in my blood, it called for me to just finish him right there.**"** As soon as the words flew out of her lips she felt the desperate need to pull them back in, she didn't want them to be out there; if they were out there they would stain them and Derek would think she was crazy. Well, maybe she was —she certainly thought she was despite Kate telling her otherwise. **"**And if I did it, I don't know if I would have been able to stop…**"**

**"**Bloodlust.**"** He said simply, finally realizing what all that fear was about, and lifted himself off the bed only to move around so he could sit next to her. This wasn't about Waldo, this was about him; he saw it clearly now, she was afraid that if she lost control she would have hurt him too. **"**You didn't kill him; you didn't kill anyone.**"** Derek said giving up on being stern and pulled her to his chest. Her sigh of relief made him smile a little but he soon found himself focusing on the greater question yet to asked or answered. **"**How —how did you do all that?**"**

**"**I just… I just screamed.**"** she sighed not knowing how to answer that question exactly even to herself. **"**Kate has been telling me stories, you know**"** she said, her voice a bit more vivid **"**about my parents. She knows _a lot_ about them.**"** Sensing the upcoming question about how was that relevant to her little one-woman mass-destruction act she continued. **"**Steven wasn't exactly human which means neither was my dad or Waldo; and neither am I.**"** she paused for a second waiting for him to pull away disgusted or ask her more but he didn't do either. **"**I don't know much, we haven't gotten to that part of the story yet. But I know from experience that I could always hide in plain sight —as if I was invisible— and that some of the accidents I've had over the years should have hurt a hell lot more than they did.**"** Feeling a little more at ease inside her mind she paused for a second and smiled, basking at the fact that he was still there. That he was silently saying he was willing to take on one more problem and enemy. **"**Kate said that I won't grow claws unless you guys bite me but I'm not exactly human either.**"** she added on a lighter note.

**"**What exactly has Kate told you?**"**

* * *

**_"_**_What the hell are you doing here?__**"**__ her brunette friend asked her tilting her head to the side as she walked into her room to find her laying on the floor. __**"**__Are you writing –as in a diary? Okay…__**"**__ the girl sighed sitting cross-legged next to her. __**"**__What did Phil do this time?__**"**_

_She threw the pen down between the pages and turned her head to look at her friend with an exasperated look on her face. __**"**__What makes you think Phil did something anyway?__**" **__Despite her upbringing she loved all her new friends, but this one _—_oh she was a real piece of work; so perceptive yet so ignorant at the same time. In fact she was kind of curious to see what she was going to say this time._

**_"_**_Girls are not really good at writing about things that make them happy.__**"**__ The other brunette said in a very sophisticated yet equally sympathetic tone. Before she had time to register her friend's words though, the girl laughed. __**"**__You like? I heard Victoria telling Chris the other day. Third trimester is kicking her right in the feelings.__**"**_

**_"_**_It's cute. And sadly accurate.__**"**__ She agreed. Oh God, she was starting to agree with things Victoria said –this had never happened before. What the hell were her hormones doing to her? Jeez… __**"**__Anyway, Phil didn't do anything and that's the problem.__**"**__ she told her friend sitting up a little and the girl's lips formed a small __**'**__o__**'**__ in realization._

_Of course. As much as she loved Phil, she knew the boy was a bit of a scaredy-cat when it came to standing up to his dad. __**"**__I'm sorry baby girl…__**"**__ she said softly and moved to sit behind her friend __**"**__Maybe I should avoid comments about babies from now on.__**"**__ She chuckled slightly taking hold of her friend's hair braiding them in a loose braid._

**_"_**_Probably.__**"**__ She agreed lightly. __**"**__You know what? If I do have this baby, one day we should tell her what you just said.__**"**__ She said nodding her head, already fond of the idea that whether she or her best friend would be there to watch over her kid and tell her daughter smart stuff. __**"**__And then braid her hair. I bet it's going to be long and beautiful…__**"**_

**_"_**_Now; how can you be sure it's a girl?__**"**__ her friend asked with a small laugh but she already knew her friend's answer about __**'**__the overrated yet accurate maternal instinct__**'**__ so she just nuzzled the other girl's shoulder and agreed. __**"**__We should definitely do that. But I don't think a boy will ever get to make her sad…__**"**__ she said earning a confused look from her friend. __**"**__What? We'll put the fear of God and Hunters' in them and they'll never dare to.__**"**_

_Both brunettes laughed._

* * *

She told Derek a tiny bit of everything she learnt; how her mother was younger than her when she had her, how Waldo had waged war with both the werewolves and the hunters at the time her mother was pregnant with her and how the girl pushed off telling her family for as long as she could so they wouldn't make her abort the baby. Or how her dad got cold feet at first and Steven stood up for her and her mom instead. She told him how her mom and her friend made plans for her before she was even born and how her mom wanted her to have a normal life away from everything. How Phil redeemed himself and how Waldo lost an eye. The stories were scattered and the timelines didn't make much sense to her either but she, and told Derek so too, had no reason to doubt Kate and everything she told her.

Unwillingly, Derek agreed.

He hated to admit it aloud and even to himself, but Kate was finally doing something good with her life; being there for Kaya. And as much as it kicked him right in the middle of all the terrible memories he had of the woman —and always tried to keep them vivid— she was doing well with the girl. Save the little Waldo incident, which of course had taken place in his house in her absence, Kaya had been safe the whole time she stayed there with her and Chris. He noted he should send the man a good bottle of scotch for Christmas for sticking him with the two females.

Still, even as Kaya slept in his arms in that cute little red cape of hers, he couldn't help but wonder how honest and accurate Kate was in her minute testimonies about Kaya's family. Maybe, he thought, she was one of those girls; a friend of her mom's or maybe she was just playing the teenager on her need for affection and family. His arms tightened a little around the girl's waist on that thought. Kate had gained power over them by gaining —or conning, he wasn't sure yet— Kaya's affections.

Despite his better judgment, careful not to wake her, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and typed a message to Kate. Not letting himself think about it twice he pressed 'send' and looked at the screen for a few more seconds.

**_"If you're lying, if you hurt her, I will end you."_**


	18. Chapter 18

She walked down the trail slowly, carefully.

The sky was dark and the night completely starless but there was this soft humming sound lingering in the atmosphere. Her legs felt like jello and but she kept going, it felt wrong to stop; but _why_? All she knew was she had to find the end of that trail and reach her destination even if she didn't exactly know where she was heading. She was determined to do so. Feeling a twinge of pain on her foot she looked down to find that she was barefoot and bleeding practically from the hips and down. It would be enough to make anyone stop, it would normally be enough to make her stop, but for some reason she felt an odd compulsion to keep going.

It's common knowledge that everything that has a beginning also has an end; and she obviously had to find the end of the trail. A dark tunnel waited ahead of her; of course there would be a tunnel. If she was in a movie, it would be like watching her life in the most symbolic sense. What was the tunnel supposed to be anyway —puberty?

Taking a deep breath she moved towards it with the steadiest steps her aching feet could manage. If anyone asked she would deny it; the ache in the pit of her stomach was not there, her heart didn't beat faster than usual and she was not —under any circumstances— afraid. She would deny it to her final breath. Instead she would say that any hesitation in her step was due to her bleeding members, that she was making a cautious and rational decision on her next step. That was the story she would stick to. Because she was Kaya Blake and all her life she had learnt to fend for herself and not be afraid of anything; let alone something completely trivial as a dark tunnel.

* * *

_She stumbled her way down the trail. She knew she should have listened to her father and stayed in but she could never contain the little rebel inside her. Oh how she regretted it now; now that she was barefoot and aching after the tête-à-tête from hell. If only she had listened to her father she wouldn't be traipsing injured through the woods bleeding from between her legs. She wouldn't need to look for a safe place to hide till dawn in hopes of her people finding her first._

_Seeing a tunnel ahead of her she sighed with relief as she finally found a wall to help her steady her steps and walked in slowly, hoping to remain unnoticed. For once she prayed, that if there was a God, he would be on her side; just this once. Finding a spot she was feeling content with, she let herself slide down against the rough tunnel wall and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. And for a second, just one second, she closed her eyes…_

* * *

She walked in slowly, small achy steps, as her hand traced the rough wall for support. For the first time in longer than she could remember, she heard a commotion. Oh thank God, she wasn't alone in that place; it was starting to get creepy. A wave of relief washed over her and she tried to move closer to what she could spot as a small group of people. One of them seemed to be sitting against the tunnel wall, legs spread ahead while the others stood muttering things she couldn't exactly pinpoint. Stumbling her way towards them though a strange feeling crept up her spine. Suddenly she felt afraid of the small crowd, as if they would hurt her, and as she moved closer to them the feeling turned to dread as the terrible vibe only grew by the second. Yet something inside her made her keep going. And the closer she got, the louder the voices became.

* * *

_Coming to her senses she found them there, looking at her. They did nothing else, they just looked at her; and for the first time she felt terrified sitting there, before them. She felt hopeless, like there was nothing else she could do but surrender and let herself die. They would kill her, the way they looked at her left no room for questioning it._

_This was it; her end, her final moments._

_But the fear she felt inside wasn't about herself; she knew it all too well. With the life she and her family led, one day they would all meet their Creator _—_some sooner rather than later. She had always hoped she'd fit into the latter category but, apparently, she had no such luck. She knew one day she'd die and she wasn't afraid of death; not for herself, but she didn't want to die. Not in a world where there was finally something greater than her and her ego or embarrassingly long list of terrible choices._

* * *

Suddenly the voices didn't resemble friendly teasing anymore and the person sitting on the ground wasn't laughing but writhing and crying in agony. And the people watching were muttering in a language she couldn't understand, repeating the same words over and over again. She could understand that much. What was going on? Her breathing came hard and as much as her gut told her to turn around and wobble her way back out of the tunnel, a voice in the back of her head told her to keep going, to get to the other end of the tunnel –that the only way out is through. So she took another step, then another and another till she was close to them; close enough for them to notice her, but they didn't. The hooded men, she now saw, were chanting something she didn't care to understand and the person on the ground was a woman, a girl really judging by her clothes.

The girl's head was bowed down so Kaya couldn't see her face but she kept groaning in pain and holding her belly —her very pregnant belly. For a second though Kaya felt so mesmerized by the sight of her that it didn't matter that the girl was pregnant; just that she made a beautifully tragic picture in that tunnel in the middle of a night. If she were a painter, Kaya would paint her just the way she was; illuminated by the dim light at the end of the tunnel, brown tresses cascading down her face in the way a poet would say resembled a dark waterfall, one hand protectively laid over her belly while the other laid on the ground making a tight fist like that of a fallen hero. Yes; it was a beautifully tragic image the girl presented to the world.

The girl couldn't be a day older than her, if not even younger, and she was obviously a fighter; knocking her fist on the ground as hard as she could. Her father always told her that the brain reacts to the most recent injury focusing on that —and looking at the girl's bleeding knuckles she knew she must have heard the same words from someone. She admired the girl whose face she couldn't see in a way she felt she never admired anyone before and, in a trance, moved past the men and knelt down in front of her ignoring the pain in her limbs. Cautiously, she lifted her hand and moved it towards the girl's face. Maybe she wanted to comfort her or maybe it was her curiosity getting the best of her as she needed to see the young girl's face.

* * *

_They began chanting something in a language she didn't understand yet recognized as Ancient Latin and a sharp pain tore through her. Her baby; they didn't want to kill her, they wanted to kill her baby. Sons of a… Before she could finish that thought another pain tore through her like a knife and she instinctively brought a hand to her belly._

_No, not her baby._

_Maybe she wasn't sure herself about it at first and maybe she would make a terrible mother _—_but this was her baby, her daughter. She screamed in agony; both out of physical and emotional pain. They were trying to murder an innocent baby whose only mistake was growing inside her._

_The pain kept increasing and in a moment of pure stubbornness, she began knocking her fist against the ground as hard as she could. The body reacts to the most recent pain, she chanted in her mind and kept on knocking her fist down. But even that didn't stop the pain, it didn't make her feel less tired or less vulnerable, it just gave her the illusion that she was somehow fighting, even if all she was fighting was herself and the voice in the back of her mind telling her to just let go._

_Because she never let go._

_Not when it came to herself and she certainly wasn't going to give up and let go when it came to her baby's life. If her baby girl died that night, she was going to die with her._

* * *

Slowly, as Kaya's hand touched her face, the girl began lifting her head. For a second Kaya felt relief that someone was finally acknowledging her presence there, that she wasn't completely invisible to all living souls, but as the girl kept tilting her head up to face her Kaya felt her breath dying before it reached her lungs. The girl's face —she knew that girl's face, she saw it every day in the mirror, as she walked past windows in town. It was her face.

It was her face; but it was somehow different. She was younger and her lips were slightly fuller, her eyes less green and more brown; but it was still her own face starring back at her. It was her own head tilting to the left in question and it was her own hand now clutching on to her. She couldn't breathe much as she tried to, she just couldn't —but in the same time she felt so light-headed, as if she had already breathed too much and didn't need the air anymore. Looking down she saw that the girl —she suddenly refrained from recognizing the mirror image as herself —bleeding from between her legs; the hips and down, she realized looking at her own bloody clothes.

The girl was either having or losing her baby and nobody was helping her.

Kaya stood from the ground as if she was struck by lightning and turned to the men as something snapped inside her. Much as she found it psychiatrically wondrous and personally freaky in the worst way possible, she had to stand up for that girl and her baby. She turned to face the men and suddenly she couldn't breathe once again. The men in front of her were people she knew, people she would recognize in any age; Waldo and her father.

Her own father, damn it.

He stood there, young as she'd only seen him in pictures, and sided with his father against a girl that had the face of his own daughter; his own flesh and blood. Suddenly, unreasonable as it was, she felt betrayed —like someone had just stripped her of all the good memories she had of her dad, like someone had stolen all of his redeeming qualities and left him only a shell of the man she knew.

* * *

_Defiant; that's what her family always said she was. And even in a moment of crisis she stayed true to herself _—_regardless of others selling out. So in an act of pure defiance she lifted her head and looked at the men trying to murder her unborn daughter. At the men who were that baby's family._

_She looked at Waldo first; the man who never wanted her near his son to begin with. Not as a friend and especially not as a lover. She never expected more from him, not in a million years if she was being honest, so his doing this didn't surprise her. He didn't want that baby to see the light of this vain world from the second he heard about her pregnancy. To think he had the nerve to go to her father and ask for her to be forced into aborting her daughter. She thanked the universe her father, despite his flaws, loved her and was not a baby-killer like her father-in-law._

_Then she let her eyes land on Phil; the father of her child. How could he? Getting cold feet about becoming a father, that she could understand; hell, she could even justify it. She was there herself too on the odd days of the week. But this, siding with his father and trying to murder their baby, she would never understand. This baby was his child, his daughter _—_their daughter. She was the daughter he had told her he wanted to have with her one day, the daughter he wished they'd have one day every time he held her at night. And now; now he was choosing his father's good graces over her and their baby._

_And his betrayal really did hurt. Almost as much as the pain he was causing her and their daughter who was still growing inside her._

* * *

She cried. Looking at her father, she cried. She cried for herself and she cried knowing she would never look at his face in a picture and see the same man. She cried for the girl whose face she shared and her unborn baby. She cried for him; the man he may have actually been under the mask of holiness she painted for him and she cried for his terrible choices. She just cried a never ending stream of tears as she backed herself against the wall of the dark tunnel. Suddenly she wasn't bleeding, she was in top shape again, but she was a bit more broken on the inside. Was this real? Was her father a bad man —capable of hurting a pregnant woman and her baby? Who was this man; she didn't even recognize her father in him. And she cried, she cried even more.

A young man came running from the end of the tunnel with a purpose. His light hair was disheveled and his breath labored but he kept going. Reaching the spot he looked horrified between the two men and the girl and he did the unthinkable.

He screamed.

* * *

_She didn't know which was worse; being betrayed by your first love or having to watch him kill your child unable to stop him._

_She held on to her belly, running tiny circles on it as if trying to sooth the baby's pain. She knew it made no difference but if any of the crap she read in the maternity magazines was true, she wanted her baby to know she was loved. She wanted her daughter to know that she was there till the very last second, holding her in the only way she could, trying to sooth her pain. She prayed her daughter would know as she let tears stream down her face._

_"What are you—" she heard Waldo say but before he could finish his sentence he was silenced by a scream._

_Suddenly she was filled with hope again. Phil and Waldo were crouched down and had started bleeding as he came further into view. Yes, he came _—_he came for her and her baby. Once again it was him who came through for her, for her daughter._

* * *

Steven; the young man was Steven. And he screamed —he screamed like her. He screamed and stopped Waldo and Phil, made them bleed, while the girl didn't even phase. It was as if he protected her from his own anger somehow, as if… Suddenly, between her sobs, it hit her; Steven was indeed protecting the young girl and her baby from his family 'cause they too were his family. The girl was her mother, she realized and slid helplessly down the wall next to her; her mother. And Steven, her uncle, had protected her from his father and brother —the brother who happened to father the unborn baby in question.

Her.

Steven rushed to them and quickly checked for injuries. But he wasn't checking the mother; he was checking her, Kaya Blake herself. **"**Don't worry, I'm here now… You're safe, your baby is safe**"** he said quietly stroking her cheek and she didn't understand how this was possible for him to touch her yet not see her for who she really was. He just saw her mother in her —like she had seen herself in her only mere moments earlier. It didn't make sense… Waldo and her father slowly rose to their feet, she noticed, and there was a long pause between the three men as they all starred at each other. But Steven's eyes were trained on his baby brother, as if expecting him to make a choice once and for all. And he did.

Phil took a strong swing at his father catching him off guard before banging his head against the tunnel wall rendering him unconscious and Kaya sighed with relief. The damn tears wouldn't stop streaming down her face though no matter how hard she tried to stop them or wiped them away. Turning to Steven, she saw he was looking at his brother with pride but after a mere second it disappeared and the man-on-a-mission look returned to his face as he placed an arm under her mother's knees and one behind her back, affectively lifting her off the ground. Breathing easier now, Kaya's eyes took in the image the three people presented; Steven holding her mother as if she was his own and her looking like she belonged there with him. And then there was Phil, her father who had a sudden change of heart and helped save the woman carrying his child, looking as devastated as a man could be looking at his brother staking a claim on what could have been his family. The look on his face almost pained her.

* * *

_Steven fell to his knees in front of her and began scanning her quickly for injuries. He knew what to look for and he did so very quickly. A second later she felt his hands on her face. __**"**__Don't worry, I'm here now… You're safe, your baby is safe__**"**__ he told her stroking her cheek affectionately, taking the tears away with his thumb. She nodded relieved. Steven always came for her, he would never leave her and her daughter behind –even if it meant being at odds with his own father. He'd do that for her and her daughter._

_Phil and Waldo started standing back on their feet and fear started taking over her again once more as she used her bleeding hand to grab Steven's arm to notify him. He looked at her reassuringly before his gaze focused on his brother. The two kept their eyes trained on each other as if having an unspoken conversation that no one else was allowed to listen in on. Within seconds, Phil had taken a swing at his father and banged his head on the wall till Waldo fell on the ground unconscious. Steven gave his brother a look she could only describe as full of pride and for a second she felt the same warm feeling of pride bubble inside her too before Steven's arms wrapped around her and lifted her off the ground._

_This was it. Her daughter was safe for now; Waldo was down and Steven was taking them somewhere safe. And maybe one day, she prayed, she'd learn to look at Phil again and not see the man who tried to kill their daughter but the man who finally found it in him and saved them._

* * *

Phil started walking to them and the brothers took the girl away, towards the other end of the tunnel and this time, wiping her tears away quickly, Kaya followed. She followed till she heard a voice traveling with the light breeze; a voice calling her name.

**"**Kaya…**"**

* * *

**"**Kaya**"** Derek called out again shaking her a little more this time. **"**Kaya!**"** he called a little louder and her eyes finally started opening, allowing him to draw in a deep breath he didn't notice he needed. She looked at him a bit dazed, as if she wasn't sure she was awake yet, and he pulled her to him. **"**Don't worry, I'm here now… You're safe.**"**

**"**Am I?**"** she mumbled uncertain and let herself be pulled against him. Her hand reached to his forearm, holding him too, but her eyes remained trained on nothing in particular in the distance.


End file.
